


Cautela

by JPeterson



Series: Scoperta per Caso [2]
Category: Frozen (2013)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Not Related, F/F, Fluff, Humor, Romance, Smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-21
Updated: 2016-06-12
Packaged: 2018-04-27 10:48:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 25,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5045395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JPeterson/pseuds/JPeterson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Coffee," she reiterated once more; this time out loud. "Just. Coffee." A second sigh. "Tomorrow."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Venerdì

**Author's Note:**

> This is a sequel to _Avanti_ , so I do recommend reading that one first. Posting this because _Avanti_ is up for discussion over on /r/elsanna in a few days and I'd really like to have as much of this out as possible before then.
> 
> I'll be posting parts 2 and 3 tomorrow and the day after, respectively. After that, I don't have anything completed and so will post when I'm done.
> 
>  **Chapter warnings:**  
>  I don't think I need any for this one. It's essentially pre-date jitters with a few (rainbow) dashes of cuteness and a tiny sprinkle of semi-suggestive content.
> 
> Enjoy.

It was just coffee, Elsa reminded herself as she finished changing for the third, consecutive time, only to sigh at her reflection and roll her eyes as she decided against that blouse too, and tossed it into a corner with a grumble. The first had been too casual, and the second too revealing. This one, meanwhile, was too formal, and she was frankly beginning to stress a little, because she hadn't even _started_ to figure out what pants and which shoes to wear, or whether she should put her hair up or leave it down, or how she should do her makeup, or if she should walk or drive or take the subway or--

Elsa took a deep breath, and pinched the bridge of her nose as she closed her eyes and blocked out the view of her own, bra-and-panty-clad self. “Coffee,” she reiterated once more; this time out loud. “Just. Coffee.” A second sigh. “Tomorrow.”

Which sort of begged the question of why she was fretting about it _now_. The answer to that, at least, was simple; because the woman she was having the aforementioned coffee with was apparently the only one who could distract her from this... this absolute, _adolescent panic_ that really had no business invading her life now that she was officially in her mid-twenties. Since Anna had evening classes on Fridays and Elsa refused to risk taking her attention away from them, however, texting her was out of the question for the time being.

That didn't keep her from giving her phone a glance, of course; even if the screen was peacefully (annoyingly) dark and silent for that very reason.

Getting used to the sudden influx of messages had been remarkably easy; especially considering that up until about a month ago, Elsa really only used her phone to keep up with her studies, a few out-of-state friends and what little family she had on this side of the Atlantic. Giving her number to Anna had certainly given its activity level a healthy boost, to the point where Elsa's cell provider had actually e-mailed her about the sudden spike to make sure that the phone hadn't been stolen. She still hadn't quite decided if she should be glad that they watched out for such things, vaguely insulted that her previous habits would suggest that theft _needed_ to happen in order for her to be able to conceivably text this much, or satisfied that she was now definitely making use of the unlimited, free messages that her monthly plan included.

The climb in contact between them had been a slow one. It had started with the first message from Anna the day after their initial meeting, which had included no more than her name and a smiley face, and been followed by several days of radio silence in which Elsa had changed her bedding three times because the redhead's scent still lingered and proved to be increasingly distracting. By the time a week had passed they'd been exchanging texts daily, and now there were both _good morning's_ and _good night's_ , as well as random, sometimes rambling conversations throughout the day that had her grabbing for her phone from the second she either heard or felt it vibrate.

It was strangely addicting, and at the same time also oddly frightening, because it had been quite a while since Elsa had willingly let a one-night-stand develop into something more, if indeed she ever had. Casual sex, while not something she tended to do very often, was simple precisely _because_ it was casual; because there were no expectations placed on either party beyond sunrise. An emotional attachment, however, which she was definitely developing – _had_ definitely developed – with Anna, was another matter entirely.

Emotion would include more, and while Elsa wasn't concerned about some aspects that would come part and parcel with an actual relationship – monogamy, inevitable arguments and suchlike – there were things about the idea that left her... a little uneasy.

Worrying over that now, however, was pointless, and she told herself that for anything but the first time as she started sorting through her closet _again_ and pulled out a fourth option; a shirt this time, but with short sleeves and in a more casual, colorful pattern than the preceding one, and she turned back to the mirror to hold it up in front of herself with a critical glance at her reflection.

And sighed. “Nope.” That shirt, too, went flying into the steadily growing pile in the corner of the room, and eventually the skies outside her windows had darkened while there was now a grand total of six items left in her closet, with five of them being ones that she couldn't remember having worn in years.

Elsa made a mental note to drop them off at Goodwill or somesuch, but at least she'd managed to put together an outfit that was at once both casual and presentable enough. She hoped so, anyway, because the hour was now approaching midnight, and she would already have to spend most of her free time tomorrow cleaning up the mess that she'd spent the past few hours creating in the first place.

On the other hand, she decided as she set aside the things she'd chosen to wear, having something to spend her time on probably wasn't a bad thing. If she put a little music on while she worked, she might even be able to not worry too much about whether or not the date would actually go well.

And maybe there would be a pony tied to her bedpost when she woke in the morning, too, she considered wryly, and raked her fingers through her mussed hair in order to settle it somewhat as she purposely turned her back on her clothes-strewn bedroom. She'd only just managed to make her way into the kitchen when a low _drrrt_ reached her ears and had her spinning in place, and five, hurried steps later, her phone was in her hand.

 _You still up?_ Anna's text read simply.

 _I am_ , she tapped out in response, and leaned against the wall on one, bare shoulder as the simple interaction finally allowed some of her nerves to bleed away. _Did you just get home?_

Instead of a written reply, however, the phone started vibrating in her hand, and she was startled enough to see Anna's name pop up on the display that she outright froze for several moments. Though they'd texted enough that Elsa swore she could feel the pads of her fingers flattening, they hadn't actually _called_ each other, and now her mind was essentially chasing itself in halfway-panicked, little circles trying to anticipate _why_ Anna was calling her.

_She's canceling. She changed her mind. She made up with the ex. She met someone else. She's sick, or injured, or has to leave for a while, or--_

_Or_ , Elsa forcibly overruled herself as she scrubbed a hand over her face and huffed out a breath _, she just wants to talk to you because it's both faster and easier than texting. So how about answering the call and finding out?_

“Hello?”

“ _Hey_.” Anna's smile was easily audible even over a cellular connection. “ _Stepped away from the phone for a bit?_ ”

“Something along those lines.” Elsa's lips quirked as she leaned back against the counter, and she held the phone between her ear and her shoulder as she curled her arms around herself and closed her eyes. She'd completely forgotten just how relaxing the sound of Anna's voice was, and the reminder was very much appreciated. “Made it home easily enough, I take it?”

A low chuckle warmed her ear. “ _As easily as anyone can in this city, yeah. I-- um..._ ” The timbre of Anna's voice shifted subtly, and Elsa actually felt her heart skip a beat when she realized that the redhead suddenly sounded nervous, of all things. “ _I hope you don't mind me calling this late. I mean, my classes ended hours ago but I went out with some friends and I know it's, like, midnight already but I just... I guess I just wanted to talk to you. With words, y'know?_ ”

“I know.” Really, she would have an easier time stopping herself from thinking than she would from preventing the small, hopelessly charmed smile that was tugging at her lips. Anna's apparent tendency towards nervous rambling was one thing among many that she _hadn't_ forgotten, and it was just as adorable as she remembered it being. “It's alright; I promise. I was up as it was, right?”

“ _Hm_.” The soft grunt was very non-committal. “ _Yeah, true. I guess I just can't quite kick the 'no calling after ten PM without pre-approval' that my folks instilled in me._ ”

“It was nine PM for me,” Elsa commented; body-weight shifting onto the front soles of her feet as she opened a high cupboard and reached for a glass, even as she reflected that she really needed to do some rearranging of her kitchen storage one of these days, just so the items she needed the most wouldn't usually end up well over her own head. “But if it helps--” She secured a glass and settled it on the counter. “-- you're free to call whenever you please, as long as you know that I'm awake.”

Of course, Anna was free to call whenever she pleased, _period_ , but maybe that was a little too much, too soon.

“ _Oo, carte blanche?_ ” came the playful response, and Elsa chuckled.

“Essentially,” she agreed. “I'll trust you not to abuse it, of course.”

“ _Ah, drat_.” A long, theatrical sigh trickled down the line. “ _There go my plans of drunk-dialing you from now until eternity_.”

“Actually, I wouldn't mind drunk-dialing,” Elsa rejoined, and pursed her lips to hold back a smile as she filled the glass and then closed the fridge door. “In that state, I could probably lure all kinds of interesting secrets out of you.”

“ _Heh_.” There was a brief, low chortle. “ _I like how you think you'd need to get me drunk for that_. _It's not like I've been secretive so far, is it?_ ”

Well, that was true, Elsa decided, though she didn't actively respond since she was busy swallowing a mouthful of juice. She had already learned a selection of tidbits about Anna's day-to-day life through their texting, such as when her classes started and ended on various days, who her closest friends were, and how she usually finished off the day with a mug of hot chocolate – or 'lazy' hot chocolate as Elsa herself had teasingly deemed it several times, since making it consisted of little more than squirting chocolate syrup into milk and microwaving the whole thing.

“I suppose not,” she agreed, and padded barefoot across the warm, wooden flooring as she headed back towards her bedroom; glass in one hand and cell phone in the other. “Of course, you were remarkably forward even on the night we met.”

“ _An enigma, I am not_ ,” Anna half-joked, and while Elsa cleared a few haphazard piles of clothing off of her bed with a firm – if unvoiced – 'later', she just barely picked up the sound of muffled footsteps as the redhead presumably ambled around her own home. “ _You, on the other hand..._ ”

“Me?” She seated herself on top of the covers, and swung her bare feet onto the bed before settling back against the headboard and scooting down a little. “Am I an enigma?”

“ _Wrapped in mystery meat and smothered in secret sauce_ ,” was the deadpan reply, and Elsa only barely managed to land the half-mouthful of juice back in the glass as she started laughing.

“I am no such thing, but thank you for that _enchanting_ visual,” she returned dryly, and decided to set her now half-empty glass aside before she ended up having to change her sheets again. “May I remind you of whom approached whom first?”

“ _You may not_ ,” Anna sniffed haughtily, and Elsa slipped one arm beneath the pillow she was resting on and gave an amused, little shake of her head. “ _That's a third date conversation, at the earliest.”_

“Confident in the fact that there's going to be one, are we?”

Brief pause, and a low creak that sounded mostly like Anna was sitting down on something. “ _That there's going to be a third date, or a conversation during it?_ ”

“Yes.”

“ _Then yes_.”

“Good.” She smiled into the halfway-lit bedroom, and closed her eyes. “That means that we're on the same page.”

“ _Yup_.” More creaking, and when it was followed by a long exhale, she could practically see Anna leaning back in her own seat and letting her head drop back. “ _Is meeting by the Met tomorrow still okay?_ ”

“Mm.” Elsa let the phone rest against her face as she turned onto her side and took a slow breath, only to crack one eye open and give the pillow that her head was resting on a wry look. “My bed _still_ smells of you,” she then muttered in a bemusedly accusing tone. “How do you do that?”

A low laugh tingled against her ear. “ _It's a gift_ ,” Anna teased, and there was a quiet rustle followed by a mostly smothered yawn. “ _Or maybe just a sign that you need to do laundry_.”

“Hey!”

“ _Sorry, sorry._ ” The giggle that accompanied the words, of course, also countermanded them entirely. “ _Just kidding. But hey; if you ever wanna write a song, there's your title. 'Can't Get Your Smell Outta My Sheets'._ ”

Elsa rolled her eyes, but couldn't stop the twitching grin from forming. “I can hardly claim to be familiar with American country music,” she returned, and shifted until the duvet was scrunched into a thick roll against her front and she could wrap her arm around it. “But it sounds like something that would fit into that genre.”

“ _Probably_ ,” came the amused agreement over the low sound of footsteps. “ _What are you doing, anyway? I keep hearing scuffling noises._ ”

Elsa took in the way she was pretty much curled around her comforter, and felt her face flush. “Talking to you,” she replied honestly, and then, before Anna could speak up again: “Laying in bed.”

“ _I'd kinda managed to figure out both of those_ ,” Anna informed her dryly. “ _But thanks for the confirmation. Am I keeping you up?_ ”

“I don't mind.” Elsa picked at the covers with two fingers. “I was getting ready for bed when you called, but I don't have any plans tomorrow morning.” There was a sound that she identified as a fridge door being opened, followed by a muted thump and a soft, almost-hiss. “Milk?”

“ _You can hear that?_ ”

“Mmhm.” Picturing Anna was easier with her eyes closed, so Elsa let them slip shut again and simply listened to the low, domestic sounds of the redhead pouring herself a glass-- no, the pitch of that would be higher; a _mug_ of milk. “You aren't the only one with sensitive ears,” she needled gently, and smiled at the audible _phhhht_ of something being squeezed, which was soon followed by a characteristic beeping of buttons. “Enjoy your hot chocolate.”

“ _Aha; so she's too polite to call it 'lazy' hot chocolate in actual conversation,_ ” Anna mused over the low hum of the microwave, and Elsa chuckled because she could easily see the wry look in her mind's eye. “ _I must remember this._ ”

God, was talking to someone really supposed to be this simple? Logically, it made no sense since they only barely knew each other, and yet the conversation ebbed and flowed so easily that Elsa felt herself sinking deeper into the softness of her covers with practically every word. Her earlier anxiousness over the coming day was all but forgotten at this point, and the only thing that could possibly make her more relaxed, she muzzily reflected, would be if they were actually curled up together.

“ _Hey_.” Anna's voice was warm with affection, and there was the faintest hint of a laugh beneath it. “ _Not falling asleep on me, are you?_ ”

“... no.” The now-audible chuckle made her press her face into the duvet with a low groan, and what mostly felt like a blush. “I can't help it,” she protested weakly – muffled as it was by the soft covers – and wrapped her arms tighter around her impromptu body-pillow. “The bed is comfortable and talking to you relaxes me.”

“ _Aww_.” Yeah, now she was definitely blushing. “ _Well, you did say you were getting ready for bed when I called--_ ” Pause, and Elsa cracked one eye open to glance at her alarm clock just as Anna continued. “ _An hour ago. Wow; okay. I'm definitely keeping you up now._ ”

True, Elsa decided to herself, and glowered at the time displayed in glowing, blue digits. “It's alright,” she promised; well aware that she really did need to go to sleep – that Anna probably did, too – but unwilling to end the call just yet. “I'm all but ready for bed as it is, so it won't take me long when we do say goodnight.”

“ _Okay_.” Anna sounded quite content to take her word for it and keep the conversation going, and it was patently ridiculous just how much of a relief that actually was. “ _Random question time, then,_ ” she decided over some more, halfway muffled noises. “ _What do you normally sleep in?_ ”

“A bed,” Elsa deadpanned, and grinned at the combination groan-growl that traveled through the air waves.

“ _Thank you, Captain Obvious; surprisingly, most people tend to sleep in beds_ ,” Anna groused, and it took a startling amount of effort for Elsa to hold back a giggle. “ _What do you normally_ _ **wear**_ _in this bed, to sleep in?_ ”

She pursed her lips thoughtfully, and studied the wall across from her. “I... usually wear what I wore when you were here,” she admitted at length, and then felt her eyebrows almost leap free of her forehead when there was a sharp intake of breath, a thump, a sploosh and a brief string of muttered cursing. “Anna?”

“ _I'm okay!_ ” the redhead blurted. “ _Everything's fine!”_ Pause. “ _Well... okay, so I did just give my kitchen a half-gallon milk-bath, but Jesus, Elsa; that was the mother of all low blows.”_

Elsa officially counted herself as thoroughly confused. “I... have no earthly clue what you're talking about.”

“ _You just put the image of you naked into my head,_ ” was the whimpered reply. “ _You can't do that when I'm holding unsealed containers!_ ”

Surely, laughing at that was at least a little bit cruel, but Elsa just couldn't help herself. “You asked!” she managed to get out in defense. “You can hardly fault me for providing an honest answer.”

“ _Yeah, yeah_ ,” Anna grumbled, and there was the patter of liquid against a steel sink. “ _Make me spill stuff all over everything and then plead total innocence. Brat._ ”

“Well, it could have been worse,” Elsa noted, and hid her smile by tugging the duvet higher. “At least you didn't ask me what I'm _currently_ wearing.”

For several heartbeats, the only sound from the other end of the line was that of the faucet running. Then even that cut off, and she picked up on the soft sound of Anna sucking at her teeth before she heard the faint, rhythmic tapping of fingernails; probably against the back of the phone.

“ _Elsa?_ ” When Anna's voice came, it was clearly – carefully – even. The gravelly tone in it, however, was still audible, and enough to send a flush spreading over her skin so fast that she actually felt a little lightheaded. “ _Let me remind you that we live about two miles apart, okay? Because if you're trying to tell me that you're naked_ _ **right now**_ _, I swear to all that is good and holy that I will march my butt over there right this very second._ ”

That was simultaneously the most thrilling and the most terrifying thing that Elsa could imagine, and now she was the one who had to suck in a harsh breath while her fingers tightened their hold on the covers and her body buzzed.

“ _A little too forward?_ ” came the question after a few moments of silence.

“Just wasn't expecting it,” she countered a touch breathlessly, and wet dry lips as she stared unseeingly at the wall. “And now you're the one putting images in _my_ head.”

“ _Yeah?_ ” Anna's voice was soft. “ _Good ones?_ ”

Anna, beneath her; breathless, passionate and crying out in worship. Anna, above her; patient and tender and understanding. Anna's teeth digging into her shoulder; Anna's skin hot under her palms; Anna's scent filling her nostrils and her voice in her ear; pleading, _begging_...

Elsa forced herself to focus, and wrestled her breathing back under control. Mostly, anyway. “Very good ones,” she promised, and then cleared her throat gently. “I'm not, though.”

“ _Hm?_ ”

“Naked.”

Not fully, at least.

“... _we really need to change the subject,_ ” Anna noted, and Elsa could hear the exasperated smile in her voice.

“That's probably a good idea,” she agreed with a sigh, and felt her lips quirk into a smile of her own as she reclaimed her long-forgotten hold on her phone and slid to a far less tempting stand next to the side of the bed. “Or I may just pin you against the nearest vertical surface the moment I get you alone tomorrow.”

“ _Maybe I wouldn't mind that,_ ” came the eventual - and noticeably husky – response, and the sound of it nearly made Elsa's knees unlock.

Clearly, this could very well end up being more than 'just coffee'.

 


	2. Sabato; Mezzogiorno

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter this time – for me, anyway.
> 
>  **Warnings:**  
>  Nope.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art was a massive structure located on the outskirts of Central Park, and appropriately enough also on the section of 5th Avenue that was known as the Museum Mile. Elsa, however, bypassed the grand building entirely since she was early, and weaved her way through the midday crowd until she found a relatively free spot by the wall that circled the nearby playground.

Crowds, she reflected as she pushed her sunglasses into place and surveyed the shifting mass of people, had never really been her thing, but while they did make her somewhat uneasy, it was at least an easily manageable little quirk of hers. Elsa knew enough to count her blessings where such things were concerned, since she did, after all, have one cousin who was legitimately enochlophobic, along with several more who emphatically _weren't_.

Charming loudmouths, the lot of them, she remembered with a faint, upwards quirk of her lips, and slid her phone from the small bag that was slung over her right shoulder in order to check the time.

Still early. Elsa sighed quietly to herself, and brushed her bangs back out of the way when they were nudged in front of her eyes by the warm, but persistent breeze that had been the deciding factor against her wearing her hair down entirely. She liked the simple elegance of the single braid she tended towards, and if nothing else, there was something oddly fitting about meeting Anna with a look that wasn't entirely dissimilar from the one she'd worn the last - and first - time they'd met. She would also have liked it if the weather had permitted her to leave her hair completely free, of course, but she really couldn't expect every last detail to work out all the time.

Aside from the occasional strong breeze, at least, the weather was providing very little to complain about. It was sunny and hot, with only a few puffs of white slowly crossing the blue sky to provide a measure of relief every now and then, and Elsa was glad that she'd managed to secure a shaded spot to wait in. Heat really, truly wasn't her thing, and given what time it was now, she clearly could have spent another fifteen minutes minimum in her nicely air-conditioned apartment and at least have been a little less early than she currently was. She had, however, been almost ridiculously restless, and had chosen the walk over continuing to simply sit on her couch and jiggle her legs.

Now that the walk was over and all she could really do was wait for Anna to turn up, however, the restlessness returned with a vengeance, and as her stomach fluttered nervously, she swallowed a groan and tried to focus on the small and large groups of people passing by. Some were clearly families, and others she easily pinned as collections of friends. Others again, meanwhile, were couples, and some of them obviously new enough that the halfway shy, sidelong glances they gave each other and the way in which they just seemed to gravitate closer together made her smile.

It was a busy area overall, and Elsa could appreciate that; at least as long as she could stay on the outskirts of the crowd and watch rather than participate. It was a welcome distraction from her own nerves, and she managed to entertain herself with her little, quasi-study amidst the murmur of passing people and the squeals and laughter coming from the playground behind her. She actually got so immersed in comparing the large number of dogs she saw to the people walking them (or being walked  _by_  them, in some cases) that the faint vibration of the phone in her bag surprised her. Were there really only five minutes left before she was supposed to meet Anna?

It was actually ten, she determined once she had her phone in her hand again; not that it really mattered, because the moment the entrance to the museum was in sight, so - it turned out - was Anna. Granted, the other woman had her back turned, but there was little mistaking the fiery shade of her hair or the comfortably self-assured stance; even in sneakers, jeans and windbreaker as opposed to heels and a dress.

 _Or nothing at all_ , her mind sneakily interjected, and she really needed to get that particular image back out of her head unless she wanted to make good on her idea from the night before. Which... okay, so part of her  _did_  want to do that, but not out of the blue, and certainly not without some sort of signal from Anna that behavior like that was acceptable in the first place.

 _Just coffee_ , she reminded herself for the Nth time in the past twelve hours; the buzz of the crowd concealing the way she cleared her throat as she approached. Anna certainly didn't seem to notice one way or the other, she determined, and watched the way the redhead's shoulders moved as she seemed to juggle whatever it was that she was holding. Elsa assumed that a cell phone was probably involved somehow since she didn't see a bag anywhere, and as such waited for the movement to still before she took a breath, wet her lips, and settled her hand on Anna's shoulder.

As it turned out, Anna hadn't been holding a cell phone, but two cups of coffee. Iced coffee, thankfully, since the touch to her shoulder made her start and spin in place with enough force that Elsa was now  _wearing_  one of them, while the other - in some cosmic display of karmic retribution - bounced off of the sidewalk and proceeded to spread its contents over the better part of Anna's jeans.

 _Well_ , the stupidly reasonable section of her brain supplied as she blinked at her own, soaked front,  _at least I didn't wear the white one._

"Oh, ffff-" Anna's already-low voice was cut off by the redhead's own hands, which - since they were now empty anyway - both clamped over her mouth. Her eyes, meanwhile, were abnormally wide, and Elsa could actually  _see_  the deep blush spreading from the top of her chest, along her throat, over her cheeks and ears and all the way up to her hairline. "Mpghl."

Elsa wasn't entirely certain how long they just spent in that almost fugue-state; staring mutely at each other with Anna's expression growing progressively more horrified with each passing second, and her own - she assumed - just sort of stuck on 'gobsmacked' as she desperately fished for something to say.

"I don't suppose you have a napkin or two handy?" was what ended up coming out of her mouth. Her voice did sound a good deal more choked than she was used to, but she blamed that on the fierce heat in her own cheeks when time seemed to resume its normal speed and she became aware of the stares they were attracting.

Anna had a small stack of them out of her side pocket in the blink of an eye, and looked mostly as if she was on the verge of tears as she wordlessly held them out in one, trembling hand.

"Hey." Elsa forewent the napkins entirely, and instead curled her fingers around the redhead's wrist. "I startled you, remember?"

"I am  _so_  sorry," was the almost-whispered reply.

That much was obvious; enough so that Elsa's priority was Anna herself. "I know," she assured, and ignored how the front of her shirt now stuck uncomfortably to her skin as she carefully guided both of them out of the middle of the crowd and over to one of the massive, stone walls. "It's alright; I promise. The heat was getting to me as it was," she tried to joke, though another glance at Anna's face told her that it fell flat. "Anna..."

The use of her name did at least draw a small, shaky smile from the younger woman. "If you wanted to cancel, now would probably be a good time."

"I don't want to cancel," Elsa told her gently, and secured the napkins with her free hand. "Change, if at all possible, yes, but not cancel."

Anna made a low noise in the back of her throat, and leaned back against the wall while pressing the heel of her palm against her forehead. "Then I really don't understand you."

"That seems to be a common problem." She was doing her utmost to lighten the mood even as she tried to soak up most of the spill; depositing soiled napkins into a nearby bin one by one. "But really, you can't arrange a date and then expect me to back out of it all over some cold coffee. Now, if you'd tried canola oil, the result might have been different." Another napkin performed its duty, and Elsa wrinkled her nose even as she pretended not to see how Anna's lips were slowly twitching into a half-grin. "I detest that smell."

"Duly noted." Anna's voice was stronger now, and her shoulders had lowered by at least two inches, Elsa approximated as she handed over the remaining napkins and tried to straighten her now clammy - but not completely soaked - shirt, while the redhead set to work on the stains that liberally dotted her (unfortunately white) jeans. "No dousing you in canola oil; got it. Anything else?"

"I'd really prefer that you didn't 'douse' me in any kind of oil," Elsa mused. "That sounds... messy."

That actually earned her a chuckle. "Right. I'll start typing up the agreement later." Anna kept dabbing at her jeans for a few moments longer, and then straightened with a soft sigh. "Well, that's not getting any better," she decided as she studied herself, and winced when her gaze lifted to Elsa. "Ah, jeez. Um... change of plans and a detour to my place?" she suggested, with one hand rubbing at the back of her own neck. "I'm pretty sure I can find some stuff that'll fit you. And, uh, get that shirt washed." Pause, and a soft clearing of her throat. "Y'know. Since I'm the one who dumped coffee all over it to begin with."

Had the offer come from pretty much anyone else, Elsa would have suspected the entire coffee spill to have been little more than a ploy for this exact question. Anna's embarrassment, however, was painfully genuine, and she certainly wasn't above admitting to a good amount of curiosity about what the younger woman's home looked like. She knew that it was close by, that Anna had mainly come upon it because a friend of some family member owned the building and that she lived alone, but beyond that...

"Sure," she agreed, and folded her fingers around the strap of the bag she was carrying. "Lead the way. You probably need to change as well, hm?"

Anna just stuck out her tongue.


	3. Sabato; Pomeriggio

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last, already finished chapter. meaning that the next one will be up when it's done, and I have _no_ idea when that is.
> 
>  **Warnings:**  
>  Still don't think I need to use any. Expect a list next time, though.

If Elsa was asked to used a single word to describe Anna's apartment, 'cozy' was probably the one she would have chosen. It was clear that she didn't subscribe to the style of minimalist modernism that seemed to be all the rage these days, and instead tended towards warm colors, knick-knacks and wooden furniture. The notable exception, Elsa decided as she discarded her shoes and tried not to be too obvious in her examination of the surroundings, was the couch, which – her lips twitched, and she quickly looked elsewhere – was coffee-colored leather.

The space they were standing in now was a narrow, rectangular room that gathered kitchen, living and dining into one. To her immediate right was a small dining set below a window, to her left a decently sized kitchen area, and at the opposite end of the room from the front door was the living area, with the aptly-colored couch, a coffee table and a small entertainment center. Also across the room were an additional two doors, which Elsa supposed led to the bath- and bedroom respectively.

"C'mon in," Anna told her over the clatter of keys as she dropped them into a bowl on an end table, and toed off her own shoes next to the door. "Bathroom's over there if you need it," she went on, and confirmed Elsa speculations by pointing to the leftmost door across the room; shedding her jacket and draping it over the back of a nearby chair as she walked. "If you don't, the 'Stash 'O Clothing'-" This with one-handed airquotes, for some reason. "- is in here."

'In here', as Elsa had suspected, was Anna's bedroom; comfortably sized for the scope of the apartment itself, and furnished with the bare necessities in the form of a double bed, a closet and a single nightstand. She noticed the colors, of course (pale blue-greens, pure whites and warm creams) and the pictures on the walls, but more than anything, it was the  _scent_  that caught her attention; sun-warmed cotton, rain-bruised grass and a faint, underlying hint of chocolate. It had been weeks since she had last picked up on this particular combination in such strong measures, and it was honestly a little startling to realize just how much she'd missed it, not to mention how easily it managed to siphon a tension from her body that she hadn't even noticed in the first place.

Anna's scent was a lot less distracting and a lot more comforting when the source itself was physically present, it seemed.

"You're gonna have to live with one of my sleep shirts," the source in question commented, and effectively secured Elsa's attention when she undid her stained jeans and pushed them down her legs because there was a  _lot_  more skin on display now and her panties were covered in tiny TARDIS's and Elsa's brain couldn't decide what to react to first, so it compromised by not reacting at all. "Or at least, I'm pretty sure they're the only things I have that'll fit you." The jeans were bunched up and dropped into a hamper. "Unless you're up for lounging around in a bath robe."

Elsa actually did like spending her downtime dressed somewhat like that, but even she knew that it was too casual of a clothing choice for a now-not-so-much 'just coffee'-type date. "One of your t-shirts is fine," she therefore agreed, and swallowed a soft sigh of relief when she started unbuttoning her short-sleeved shirt and felt the cold, clammy fabric peel away from her skin with the motion.

Anna, she realized, had turned away and was currently staring at the wall. And she was blushing, unless Elsa's eyes were very much deceiving her.

"Is everything alright?" she queried a little uncertainly as she continued her unbuttoning. "I haven't grown  _that_  unattractive since you last saw me, have I?"

"What? No!" Anna spun in place, gawked,  _coughed_ , turned an even deeper red and then spun right back around all in the blink of an eye. "No, not- not at all," she assured a little shakily.

Ah. Elsa swallowed a smile when she realized what the problem was, and gave an amused little shake of her head as she refocused her attention on the buttons. "And here I thought it was sound that made you react the most," she teased.

"That doesn't mean that I'm blind," was the somewhat testy reply, which was followed by a sigh before Elsa's eyebrows even finished their upwards leap. "Sorry, I just-" A deep breath, and the motion of tanned arms crossing. "Let's just say that I'm being reminded of exactly how well sight works, too."

Flattering, certainly, Elsa considered as she finished her unbuttoning and simply let the shirt hang open, but it still didn't explain why Anna apparently couldn't even look at her when she was anything but fully dressed. That, in and of itself, was so far beyond what she was used to that she actually found herself wishing for more experience with... whatever this thing between them was, because right now, she was having a bear of a time trying to figure out if she should push the issue or leave it be.

The deciding factor, it turned out, was in how she didn't want to take the risk of  _not_  saying something.

"Hey." She stepped closer, and only hesitated for a few heartbeats before she settled her hands on the cotton-covered shoulders in front of her and felt the warmth from the skin beneath seep into her palms. "Talk to me." Anna didn't turn and Elsa didn't pull to make her, though she did let her touch slide a little lower; until her fingers were folding loosely around smooth, upper arms and the subtle muscles in them, and squeezing gently. "What is it?"

"Stupid," was the initial answer on the tail-end of a long exhale, and clammy fabric or not, Elsa wished that she'd left her shirt closed when Anna did turn, because the pale eyes seemed to desperately want to look anywhere  _apart_  from into her own, but that was where they settled; at least when Anna's gaze wasn't flicking over one of her shoulders. "It's just... it's dumb, okay? Just leave it."

Elsa pursed her lips and considered that for all of two seconds. "I'd rather not," she decided, though she took care to keep her voice soft; to keep her touch soft as well when she captured Anna's chin between two fingers and prevented her from looking away as gently as she could. "Please tell me," she requested, and brushed the pad of her thumb over the skin just below Anna's mouth. "I want to understand."

Briefly, those unusual eyes were hidden behind closed lids, and she could almost – almost – taste the slow sigh that warmed the lower half of her own face. Anna's response, however, effectively garnered her attention.

"I...  _react_  to you," was the halting explanation, with Anna first peering at her, and then glancing away. "And I know- I mean, that's normal right now, y'know? With everything so new and all, but-" There were tanned fingers curling around her forearm, followed by the faint press of soft lips when her thumb strayed high enough to trace them. "- but this is normal times  _a lot_ , and it's honestly a little... disquieting, I guess?"

"Alright." She could certainly understand that given that she was – as the saying went – currently walking in Anna's shoes. That didn't stop the discomfort that the word-choice caused, of course, but she tried to push past that and focus on the subject at hand. "... may I ask why? Just- considering that we had sex the very first time we met, I'm not really sure why the idea makes you uncomfortable now."

"Yeah, well." Anna chuckled briefly. "I told you it was stupid."

"It is no such thing," she insisted, and let the hand that still rested on the redhead's shoulder tense briefly. "So please don't say that. Talk to me.  _Why_  do you think it's stupid?"

" _Because_  we slept together the very first time we met," was the answer, followed by Anna's cheeks briefly puffing out as she expelled a quick breath. "I just- I don't want this to be just sex, alright? I mean, don't get me wrong, the sex was great, but- I guess I wanna be sure that this is... more than that. To you."

 _Wrapped in mystery meat and smothered in secret sauce_. The wry joke from the night before came back to her then, and Elsa bit at the inside of her lip as she now started to realize where it came from in the first place, because as obvious as it was to  _her_  that this was more than just a simple romp, she really couldn't expect people to read her mind.

"Anna." She cradled that beautiful face in both hands now, and locked their gazes as her voice dropped into a lower, more serious register. "This stopped being 'just sex' from the moment you approached me in the restaurant."

"... oh." A subtle tension seemed to drain from Anna in perfect concert with the color that rose in her cheeks; one that made her entire frame loosen noticeably, her eyes slip shut and even her neck relax until their foreheads were touching gently. "Well, that's good."

"Mm." There was still some small amount of hesitance in the warm hands that settled on her waist, but Anna's body had relaxed significantly, and Elsa tried to help that along further by letting her own touch glide over the sides of her neck and back onto her shoulders, which she - with a faint blush that she dearly hoped that Anna wouldn't notice - started to knead gently. "Does that... alleviate some concerns of yours?"

"Yeah." The reply came around a short, soft laugh, and the touch to her own waist grew a little bolder, with Anna's hands now resting on her hips. "A lot, actually," was the continuation, with the pale eyes slipping open to regard her with a faint twinkle of amusement. "Even if you do kinda sound like you've been called into the dean's office, with how you're talking."

That wasn't all that surprising, Elsa privately decided, since that was about how she felt, and there was no way that Anna wouldn't notice her blush now - not with how much her little tease deepened it - but at least she didn't comment on it. Instead, she seemed perfectly content to stay where she was, with her thumbs drawing idle circles on the skin just above the waistband of Elsa's chinos.

"I'm not good at this," Elsa admitted softly, and stopped her impromptu massage in favor of simply resting her lower arms on Anna's shoulders.

That earned her a curious tilt of the copper head. "What, talking?"

Not exactly what she'd meant, but... "Well, that too, depending on the subject at hand," she allowed. "I meant more in regards to dating, though. It's been- " Several years. More heartache than she cared to remember. "– a while."

Anna made a low sound in the back of her throat, and closed her eyes briefly. "So of course this one starts out with me being a semi-neurotic mess, not to mention spilling coffee all over you," she groaned. "Awesome."

"That wasn't what I-" Elsa stopped when she found herself under the warm regard of a single, turquoise eye, and gave in to the wry smile tugging at her lips as she shook her head. "I'm trying to say that I don't really have the faintest idea of what I'm doing in regards to... this, I suppose." Her fingers toyed idly with the one braid that had slipped behind Anna's back. "So in advance, I'm going to ask for your patience, and possibly for a few instances of your forgiveness while I attempt to find my footing."

"You have it," Anna promised, and the hands on her hips slipped a little further until they could give her lower back a gentle scratch. "Them," she then corrected, and frowned as she paused. "Both. All of the ab- you know what I mean." Elsa's smirk earned her light pinch. "It's not like I have any more of a clue what to do with you, right?" Another pause, and - after a lift of Elsa's own eyebrows - a swift, bright flush that almost made the freckles scattered across the bridge of her nose disappear entirely. " _Outside_  of the bedroom, you smartass."

Elsa decided not to mention the fact that they were standing in a bedroom at that very moment, though that could have been due to her surprise at how Anna apparently  _was_  capable of reading her mind.

"That does even the board somewhat," she mused instead, and settled the stray braid back over Anna's front, along with its twin. "I do have a question, however."

"Fire away."

"I seem to remember a rule of thumb that said something along the lines of 'no kissing on the first date'." The glint that appeared in Anna's eyes made her smile, and she felt its twin form under her own thumb. "Does that apply here?"

A soft laugh warmed the lower half of her face, and she shifted her hand back along a smooth cheek when Anna stepped close enough for their bodies to brush just as their noses did. "Given how we met, I don't see why it should," was the playful reply.

"I was hoping you'd feel that way," Elsa murmured, and then grew entirely too preoccupied with the warm mouth that met her own to say anything further, because God... she could hardly claim to have  _forgotten_  what kissing Anna felt like, but her memories were definitely paling when faced with the reality of it; the silky drag of lips against her own and the soft rush of warm breathing; the smooth skin under her fingers and the light touches slowly tracing over the small of her back.

She could drown in this, and that thought was at once both comforting and terrifying.

Elsa wasn't entirely sure who moved first when the kiss deepened – if it was Anna who pulled and moved back or her who pushed and stepped forward – but one of them did and the other followed along, and they stumbled blindly for a few steps until there was a wall in the way and a warm body between that wall and Elsa herself, and Anna's skin was hot under her hands and she tasted of coffee and caramel and chocolate.

It took several moments of Anna's hands pulling her impossibly closer before Elsa managed to remember that this was supposed to be a  _date_. A  _first date_ , at that.

"Sex should probably be avoided for now, hm?" she offered a little wryly, and could actually  _see_  the goosebumps that chased themselves up the sides of Anna's throat at the noticeable husk her voice had now acquired.

"Uh..." Anna blinked several times while she drew in a long breath, and then gave a short, soft laugh. "Well, maybe, but I also think we should set  _attainable_  goals, y'know?" Her expression was one of somewhat exasperated amusement, and the color in her cheeks deepened a little further when she set about straightening the crumpled mess that her hands had made of Elsa's shirtfront – with limited success. "If we make it to sunset without jumping each other's bones, I'll count it as a win."

Elsa bit back the grin, and instead brushed her fingers through the fiery bangs in order to settle them somewhat. "Clearly, you're easily satisfied."

"You'd know," was the low retort; accompanied by a wink and a nip to the tip of Elsa's nose that made her smile. "And speaking of knowing things, do you know what you want for dinner?"

That was a non-sequitor if ever there was one, but Elsa gamely rolled with the punches and stepped out of the way as Anna brushed by her with a light touch to her arm. "I was of the impression that we were meeting for coffee?"

"We were," came the easy agreement. "Until I klutzed the coffee all over us both. But since I want to spend more than half an hour with you anyway, I'll take the excuse of washing your shirt to keep you hanging around. So, dinner." Anna pulled the closet door open with a wink over her shoulder. "If that's okay?"

Elsa could think of very few things indeed that were more 'okay' than that. "Absolutely," she promised with a chuckle, and didn't notice enough to even grimace when the removed the shirt in question and felt the fabric peel away from her skin in the few damp spots that remained. "I'm not really in the mood for braving the general New York populace tonight, however," she admitted dryly. "I don't suppose you have any alternate suggestions?"

"Takeout?" The reply was somewhat muffled by the fact that Anna currently had half of her upper body hidden within the confines of the closet, and Elsa sputtered when an airborne t-shirt somehow still managed to smack her in the head with remarkable accuracy. "Not like there aren't eight thousand varieties available."

Elsa succeeded in wrangling the garment free of her face, and held it up to study the bold writing on the front. "Sometimes an inkblot is just an inkblot?"

"Especially if it's finals and the printers are acting up." Anna was shifting her hips from side to side as she tugged a fresh pair of jeans into place, and Elsa quickly decided that watching that had a high chance of becoming entirely too distracting. "Any preferences on the menu? I'd offer to cook, but with my luck today, something would explode and we'd both end up covered in random ingredients."

Elsa snorted and tugged the t-shirt over her head as she considered her options. "Chinese?" she suggested as the soft cotton settled on her shoulders, and bit back a grin when she realized that Anna was – once again - pointedly staring at the wall.

It was strange, and yet it wasn't. Elsa was self-assured enough to recognize her own attractiveness, and knew well that she possessed a certain, personal magnetism that meant that when she wanted company, she usually didn't have much trouble finding it. She could say without any trace of hyperbole that she was well used to being hit on, that she was anything but shy about doing the same thing in return, and that she had done so many times.

But Anna... Anna looked at her with this expression that was at once both sweet affection and thinly veiled desire; she wondered without pushing, asked without demanding, and was bubbly excitement, dry wit and gentle patience all wrapped up in a single package that Elsa honestly found irresistibly charming. Anna was so honest in her responses – verbal and physical both – and while Elsa had initially been drawn to her due to simple, physical attraction, it was far more that brought her closer now; that made her trace out the subtle lines of slender muscle on sparsely freckled skin, made her touch slip further until her arms were circling a trim waist, and made her hold tighten until Anna was leaning back against her.

"So." She nibbled at the edge of a flushed ear, and softened her voice to be little more than a faint breath. "Chinese?" she repeated in that very tone – right up against the same ear - and smirked when Anna literally shivered in her arms and muttered something that sounded mostly like ' _so_  not fair'.

"Chinese is good," came the unsteady reply, with Anna clearing her throat even as she extracted herself; though she did keep a hold of one of Elsa's hands as she led them both out of the bedroom. "No chopsticks, though."

"But we _have_  to have chopsticks," Elsa purred - this time against the redhead's hairline – and bit back a grin when Anna actually just _stopped_  midway through a step and gave her a look that was half patent disbelief, and half glowering reprimand. "What? I was led to believe that they're part of the experience."

Perhaps it was a little mean to deliberately push Anna's buttons in the way that she currently was, but Elsa just couldn't seem to help herself. Being around Anna felt...  _safe_ , in a way that nothing else ever had. It was warm and sweet and made her want to play – just a little – in order to learn exactly where the line went. It wasn't as if she was in any way opposed to helping the younger woman calm down again, anyway, if she did end up going too far.

And besides, there was a faint twinkle in those pale eyes that told her that Anna wasn't anywhere near as annoyed as she pretended to be.

"Keep that up," the redhead warned. "And you'll be holding the damn things in ways the inventor never intended."

"Kinky."

"Oh, my God."


	4. Sabato; Serata

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Warnings:**  
>  Well, we're hitting the M-rating this time, so: *counts on fingers* Suggestive/sexual content of the (mostly) over-the-clothes-variety, mild D/s with Elsa topping, voice kink, language kink, little bit of praise kink, biting/marking, possessiveness and restraining (but not _restraints_ ).
> 
> As more of a note: Elsa is technically speaking Italian here, but actually having it translated – only to then add an English translation for any non-speakers – seemed a little goofy. So anytime you see a full, spoken sentence or more in _all italics_ , that is her speaking in Italian.
> 
> Enjoy.

"This is ridiculous," came a low groan, and Elsa swiftly hid a smile when she glanced over to see Anna scowling at her food, with her chopsticks _still_ free of anything but sauce. "We're eating out of cardboard containers anyway, and I have it on good authority that one of those drawers right over there-" A single finger pointed towards the kitchen. "-is stocked with perfectly serviceable forks. Tell me again why I have to use these?"

"Authenticity," Elsa quipped, and somehow managed to keep a straight face when she nimbly deposited a piece of chicken into her own mouth and was given an annoyed glower for her trouble. "Aside from that, the chopsticks were invented long before the fork."

"I see your historical fact," Anna countered, and narrowed her eyes. "And raise you the argument that Chinese people are almost invariably _skinny_."

"A fact that I'm certain has everything to do with their eating utensils, rather than overall lifestyle." She settled her own serving on the low table and stood, and if her chuckle at her companion's predicament grew a little lower when she slid into place behind Anna on the couch and felt her breathing hitch in response... well, who could blame her? "Here; give me your hand." Pause. "The one you're holding the chopsticks with, Anna."

"Right." The one, freckled cheek that she could see colored abruptly; easily visible even in the flickering light from the television. "Sorry."

Since her face was outside Anna's field of vision given their current positioning, Elsa didn't bother trying to hide her smile this time. Instead, she found herself admiring the contrast in their respective skin tones as she carefully adjusted the hold that Anna had on her chopsticks, and idly enjoyed the sensation of the redhead's back moving subtly against her own front as Anna breathed.

"Like this," she explained, and covered the tanner fingers with her own. "You hold the lower one still, right there. And then to move the top one, you simply-" Gently, she let her own index finger press against Anna's, and watched the resulting, almost tweezer-like motion happen. "See?"

"Uh huh."

"Good." Elsa retracted her hand enough to settle it on the redhead's waist, and only then realized that Anna was not only still looking noticeably flushed, but that her voice also sounded quite strained. "Hey." She rested her chin on the cotton-clad shoulder, and tried to catch the pale eyes. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Anna squeaked, and then cleared her throat. "Really. But, um... if you want me to focus on dinner, I need you to stop breathing or speaking so close to my ear."

"Oh." Now Elsa was the one blushing, because she honestly should have thought of that. "Of course. I'll just-" She had one heel barely brushing the edge of the couch by the time Anna's free hand wrapped around her ankle and halted any further motion.

"Stay," came the soft insistence, along with a short chuckle. "It's fine, Elsa; I like this. It's just extremely distracting to have your voice aimed right _there_ , y'know?"

"Hm." Thus reassured, Elsa settled back into the cushions and interlaced her fingers over Anna's belly when the other woman leaned back against her in turn. "I suppose it's a good thing that I wasn't giving the instructions in Italian," she then mused, though this time she did take care to speak into the soft, fiery hair.

"Oh yeah." The skin-warmed cotton under her hands moved in a silent laugh. "The couch would've been decked out in snow peas if you had, but at least leather cleans up."

Remarkable, really, that she could have such a strong effect on Anna without even trying to, Elsa privately decided with a little shake of her head. On the other hand, she was also reminded of the fact that it was very much mutual when the redhead shifted slightly and there was the faint brush of a denim-clad backside against the vee of her own thighs. She breathed through it and pushed it aside, however, because they were supposed to be watching a movie.

And speaking of which... "What are we watching, again?" she queried, and frowned as she studied the screen. "And why is she hopelessly devoted to a reflection in a kiddie pool?"

There was a soft groan, and Anna's head dropped back against her shoulder. "I can't believe you've never seen _Grease_ before," the redhead complained, with a smack to her thigh for good measure. "That has got to be in violation of at least one fundamental law of the universe. Maybe two."

Elsa chuckled into the copper hair and tightened her hold. She liked this, she decided idly as she half-watched the goings-on on the television and felt the steady rise and fall of Anna's breathing under her own hands. In fact, she _really_ liked this, and that honestly surprised her a little, because while she personally had no compunctions about a lazy evening spent at home, it wasn't something that she could ever remember doing with anyone outside of her immediate family.

Still, there was something about this; the warm, comfortable weight of Anna leaning against her, the faint motion and sound of even breathing and the domestic noise of the movie playing that combined into a very peaceful atmosphere. Even when Anna dropped one of the aforementioned snow peas into her own lap and proceeded to curse under her breath before swearing solemnly that they were 'having sandwiches next time, dammit'.

"Sandwiches?" Elsa parroted, amused, and watched as Anna managed to dig out the now slightly smooshed pea and deposit it inside a napkin. "And here I thought those constituted snacks, rather than meals."

"Sacrilege!" Anna declared, and reached back to tweak the side of her waist. "Sandwiches are awesome, thank you very much; they're customizable _and_ nutritious." Pause, and a tilt of the fiery head until Elsa could see her grin and feel the faint tickle of a few loose strands of hair against the side of her own throat. "Or just a pile of empty calories, if that's what you're in the mood for at the time."

Exactly what one could put into a sandwich to make it nutritionally void, Elsa didn't know. So she asked.

"Fluff," was the simple answer, over the sound of a car engine revving in the movie.

"... 'fluff'?"

"Fluff," Anna repeated, and fell silent just long enough to secure and chew a piece of rice-covered beef. "It's basically spreadable marshmallow," she then explained. "Put that between two slices of white bread, with some peanut butter and maybe a bit of chocolate syrup. Or some sliced fruit, if you want at least a little bit of actual nutrition. Kinda defeats the purpose, though."

Elsa was doing her darnedest to even _picture_ that particular combination, let alone put together what it would taste like, but admittedly, her imagination was currently failing her. "I..." She opened her mouth, closed it again, and this time spent several seconds in thought before trying one more time. "I can't quite decide if that sounds more intriguing or revolting."

"Don't knock the fluffernutter." Anna scooted down in her seat a little further; until the back of her head was – apparently comfortably – pillowed on Elsa's chest, and her butt just barely on the safe side of the seat's edge while her socked feet settled on the table in front of them. "It's pretty much the ultimate comfort food, and good for whatever ails you." Here, she paused, and sucked the end of her chopsticks pensively. "Well... maybe except for a stomach ache."

"Maybe?"

"Works wonders on mine."

"Ah." She filed that information away for future reference, and retracted her hold when Anna sat up to put her food away. "Are stomach aches a common affliction of yours?"

"Nah." A soft chuckle accompanied Anna's shifting, and Elsa drew in a breath when she was nudged into a reclining position along the length of the couch, with her host settling comfortably and unconcernedly half on top of her. "It probably should be with how I eat sometimes, but my GI-system hasn't thrown up its hands in disgust yet, so I think I'm good."

"Hm." Really, she _was_ listening, but the speech center in her brain seemed to have been disabled; probably due to the distinct sensation of soft warmth now molding against her body as Anna relaxed. It was, she reflected distractedly, both intoxicating and calming all at once, and slipping her arms around Anna's back in a loose embrace felt as frighteningly natural as the pleasant weight of the head that settled into place against the front of her shoulder.

"Is this okay?" Anna's voice wondered a few moments later; soft beneath the sound of another musical number that Elsa was only halfway paying attention to. "I mean, I'm basically yanking you around like a human body pillow and you _do_ know that you can totally speak up if I'm squishing you, right?"

"I'm aware," she promised around a smile, and felt more than heard the soft hum as she stroked the tips of her fingers over Anna's spine. "It's alright; you aren't heavy in the slightest."

The scoff against her collarbone told her that Anna didn't entirely believe her, but she could also feel the faint twitch of a smile. "Flatterer," came the warmly amused accusation, with Anna's lips just barely brushing the base of Elsa's throat as she spoke. "How are hell are you even single?"

"Intention, chiefly." Elsa took care to keep her voice gentle rather than risk making Anna feel slighted, and closed her eyes when a thumb started rubbing lazy circles against her side. "I haven't really gone looking for an actual relationship in quite some time. I certainly wasn't looking for one when I approached you."

"Mm." The thumb against her side became a palm; Anna's hand slipping under the edge of the t-shirt and settling warmly on her skin. "That makes two of us," came the wry agreement, and there was the slow movement of a long breath that ended in a chuckle. "Jesus, I wanted you so bad, though. I just-" Another breath – sharper this time – and Elsa felt something inside her clench in reaction when a subtle shift had Anna pressing almost imperceptibly closer. "Like a moth to a flame, to quote a hoary old saying."

"Out of the two of us, I think you're the more 'fiery' looking one," she commented, and realized that there was a narrow of strip of warm skin just over the waistband of Anna's jeans.

"Yeah, probably." She felt the motion of the grin before the press of Anna's elbow made the cushion beneath her own shoulder dip, and then those pale eyes were peering at her from very, very close by while Anna rested her head in her hand. "But the flames don't follow the moths near as I know, and I can't think of any expressions about chasing ice."

Elsa chuckled. "Ice, hm?"

"Yup." A smile, and the careful brush of a single fingertip just below one of her eyes. "If I'm fire, you're definitely ice."

"Does that mean that you intend to make me melt?" She could feel the pebbling of gooseflesh when her fingers found the skin that covered Anna's spine, and rose up enough for their lips to brush; a wordless invitation that Anna was apparently only happy to accept, given how she lowered herself to follow.

"I thought I already had." The response was breathed against Elsa's mouth, and strangely – given the recent dinner they'd shared and what it had consisted of – it still managed to taste faintly of chocolate. Even when the kiss started and then deepened, she was immersed only in the taste and scent of sweetness that seemed to cling to Anna like a second skin; with warm fingers slipping from her cheek and over her jaw to cup the back of her head, and with the brush of denim against the softer cotton that covered her own legs.

"Is this okay?" came the question when they parted just enough to breathe; just enough for their noses to still brush, and just enough for Elsa to be able to make out the tiny flecks of pure green that blended with the pale blue in Anna's eyes.

"It _is_ after sunset," she noted, and smiled at the soft huff of laughter.

"Attainable goal attained," Anna murmured against her jaw, and Elsa could feel the twitch of those lips into a half-grin, as well as the short inhalation that was almost a gasp when she tightened her own hold until they were as close as they could possibly get. The kiss wasn't anything even approaching frantic when their mouths met again, but it _was_ noticeably more intense; harder and firmer as Anna's hand found her waist and their legs twined with the faint creak of of the couch's leather.

There was skin-warmed fabric under Elsa's hands, and then - when Anna shifted – simply _skin_. Smooth, warm skin that she was already hopelessly addicted to touching and stroking and kneading, much like the lips and tongue and _teeth_ that moved against her own mouth; slow and deep and almost searching, warmed and cooled in turn by two sets of audible breathing, and tingling irrepressibly when her hands dipped a fraction lower and Anna made a low, encouraging sound in the back of her throat that she could barely hear over the sound of the cheerfully playing movie.

When a firm, denim-covered thigh slipped between her own and pushed up, it was enough for Elsa to break the kiss with a gasp and a push of the back of her own head into the low arm of the couch. Anna's lips instead started a journey from the point of her chin to the curve of her jaw, and continued from there down the side of her throat in the wake of hot, moist exhales and the gentle tickle of fiery hair against Elsa's cheek.

There were faintly calloused fingers slipping over the side of her ribs and then inwards to the center of her belly, and the touch was tracing small circles over her diaphragm, moving in time with the slow rocking of Anna's hips against hers; a steady, repeated press of _not enough_ that matched the faint graze of teeth against her skin until her arms were trembling from the want to hold _tighter_ and her nails were digging into the small of Anna's back.

_Easy, babe; I can barely move._

Elsa's breathing hitched, and her eyelashes fluttered once, twice, before she released Anna completely and curled her fingers into the couch's leather instead; one hand clenching at the armrest above her head and the other grasping at the top of the backrest as she closed her eyes again and pushed herself back into the moment. Back to focusing on the warmth of the body that pressed so deliciously against her; back to the way Anna's fingers slipped high enough to trace her ribs just below her breast; back to the moan that was building in her throat when those warm fingers cupped that breast; a low, needy sound that only halfway escaped her before her mind strayed again and locked it away.

 _Shh; careful. I kinda need my hearing_.

Dammit, she needed to focus on _this_ , she told her traitorous brain firmly, and clenched her jaw in frustration. She needed to focus on _Anna_ or this was _never_ going to work, so if her hyper-driven mind could just _shut the hell up_ and let her _stay in the moment_ that would b-

"Hey." The weight on top of her shifted, and then Anna was holding herself up on both elbows and peering concernedly at her. "You okay?"

"Yes." Elsa's reply was automatic and slipped past her lips without conscious thought; enough that she only truly realized it when it earned her a – quite frankly – doubtful look from those pale eyes. "Mostly," she then corrected. "I just-" A slow sigh, and she closed her eyes when she felt the heat rise in her cheeks. "I tend to have trouble... climaxing." Pause. "With others, at least. I- my mind just seems to go elsewhere and I- get distracted."

Anna's head cocked, and her gaze shifted to some point over Elsa's shoulder as she seemed to digest the information. Then she nodded. "Okay," she said. "Though, sidenote, if the last time I saw you _wasn't_ the real deal, I'm going to nominate you for an academy award." One russet eyebrow quirked. "Just FYI."

That made Elsa give a startled bark of laughter, and the tension in her shoulders eased significantly when she peered up at Anna's half-grin. "Ah, no... no," she admitted, and failed to squelch her own grin even as she scrubbed a hand over her face and felt herself blush even harder. "That definitely wasn't, um- no."

"Didn't think so," Anna chuckled, and kissed the tip of her nose. "So with the tension now broken, do you wanna talk about why you get distracted?" The question was soft; curious, but not expectant. "Do you remember something you need to take care of, or...?"

"No." Elsa moved when the body on top of her did; both of them shifting until they were both laying on their sides facing each other, and settled her hand on Anna's waist. "I'm very much aware of... of what you're doing to me. I think it's mostly that I _want_ to be aware of it so much that I-" She paused, and frowned at the top of Anna's t-shirt as she tried to think of how best to phrase it, since it wasn't something she had ever needed to explain before. "I had a lover once," she then said; deciding to start at the beginning. "My first, actually. And she- it wasn't anything malicious on her part at all, but there were certain things about my reactions during sex that... bothered her, I suppose? So I learned to focus on keeping those under control, and whenever I'm, ah-"

"On the receiving end?" Anna hazarded.

"Yes," Elsa chuckled. "That. When that happens, I _want_ to not think about that but I still do, and then my focus goes to _not_ thinking about it, if that makes any sense."

"It does." Anna was smiling, and a few tanned fingers came up to brush Elsa's bangs back. "It actually explains a few things."

"Oh?"

"Like why you clearly prefer to be on top, for one," Anna offered. "And, if that was something she brought up, why you grabbed for something that _wasn't_ me this time, too." Elsa's embarrassed flush _had_ to be visible, because the next thing she knew, Anna's lips were touching lightly against her own. "Hey; it's cool. Whatever makes you comfortable, y'know? Though just for the record, I don't break easily, and I have absolutely zero issues with scratch marks."

Elsa cleared her throat. Several times, because knowing herself, scratch marks weren't exactly out of the question. "Duly noted," she muttered, and kept her eyes closed until the slow stroking of Anna's thumb over her cheekbone had calmed her enough that she felt comfortable opening them again. It did, however, take a while to get to that point.

Physical nudity was one thing; sex for the sake of sex didn't mean a damn thing to her one way or the other beyond the release it gave, but there was a completely different nakedness involved in meeting Anna's eyes right now. The difference wasn't one that she could claim to be comfortable with, but the simple acceptance of something that she'd privately viewed as a defect for longer than she cared to think about... that made it worth the slight rolling in her guts.

"You honestly don't mind?" she wondered; more than a little puzzled.

Both of Anna's eyebrows jumped. "Why would I mind?" she returned; clearly curious. "I mean... okay, yes, you're absolutely gorgeous and I'd definitely love to get to know you better in the biblical sense, too. _But_... I'm more interested in getting to know you here-" Two fingers tapped against Elsa's forehead, and then dropped to instead press against the skin over the center of her chest. "-and here. That's enough. That's _more_ than enough."

Elsa studied the steady look in those eyes without seeing a single waver, and inexplicably felt her own misting. "You can't tell me that you don't care about sex at all," she joked; trying to lighten the mood.

"Oh no; I do," Anna agreed easily, and gave another one of those half-grins. "I just care more about being trusted."

She had to close her eyes again at that. That was alright, though, because Anna's nails were drawing slow circles against the base of her skull; her voice was idly humming along to the music playing in the movie they'd both long forgotten, and _God_ , this was soothing raw spots inside of Elsa that she hadn't even known were there.

 _That's more than enough_. Or, as a part of her had heard with a clarity that still made her head swim: _You're more than enough_.

Damn if that wasn't what she'd been waiting her entire adult life to hear.

Elsa didn't open her eyes when she curled her fingers around the back of Anna's neck. Instead, she let her other senses lead; felt the smoothness of warm skin beneath her hand, the faint brush of a nose against her own and the almost-sigh that warmed her face when their lips met. She felt the way Anna's fingers curled in her hair; the softness of skin-warmed cotton and the definite press of that beautiful body against her own when she deepened the kiss in exchange for a low, approving sound.

"How are you so perfect?" she wondered, and traced her touch down over Anna's shoulder, across the dip of her waist and down to the small of her back.

"Practice and deception," was the glib reply; accompanied by the twitch of that warm mouth into a grin when Elsa snorted a brief laugh herself.

"And goofiness, I'm assuming."

"That too," Anna agreed peacefully; smiling right into Elsa's eyes when they twisted again until Elsa found herself straddling the younger woman's hips. "It's a package deal."

"I do love a good bargain," Elsa murmured as she bent down, and swallowed the soft laugh with a smile of her own. Anna's arms were winding around her shoulders to pull her closer, and much as Elsa enjoyed the feeling of fingers pressing against the top of her spine, she still broke the kiss with a light nip to the tip of Anna's nose, caught those hands by their wrists, and slowly moved them up to pin them against the armrest above Anna's head.

"Is this alright?" Her lips were tracing a lazy path along Anna's hairline from her forehead to her temple, and she tightened her hold briefly to indicate what she meant.

"Like I said; whatever makes you comfortable." A low, somewhat breathless chuckle brushed against her face. "If that happens to include you ravaging me, I have no complaints. I may not be the- the sharpest bulb in the box, but I'm not stupid."

"Hm." Elsa rolled that sentence around her head a few times, and nibbled curiously at a nearby earlobe. "Wouldn't the sharpest bulb in the box be the broken one?"

" _Elsa_." Anna's voice was somewhere between a groan and a whimper. "Your voice is right next to my ear and you _know_ what that does to me. You can't expect me to make _sense_."

"No?" She breathed the word right against the sensitive skin below one ear, and smiled when she felt the wrists below her hands twitch in response. "You enjoy the sound of my voice that much?"

" _Yesss.._." The low hiss was accompanied by a slow arching of Anna's body into hers when she dragged her teeth over that same spot of skin. " _Fuck_ , Elsa, I could- could probably come from this alone."

That, Elsa decided, was an interesting idea indeed. "Really, now?" she murmured, and felt the tremble beneath her lips when she consciously deepened her accent. "Would you care to test that theory?"

"Oh, God." The shuddering exhale tickled her cheek, and the hips she was straddling jerked when she closed her teeth around a patch of skin below Anna's jaw and tugged gently. "Um, could you el- elaborate on that?"

"Mmhm." The scent of the warm skin was curiously addictive, so she drew in a deep breath that made the woman below her shiver, and then adjusted her hold until both tanned wrists were pinned by her right hand only. The fingers of her left, instead, tangled in the fine hairs at the base of Anna's skull and pulled carefully until the redhead was craning her head back as far as she could; her throat fully bared in one of the most primal signs of submission, her breathing noticeably erratic, her features attractively flushed in the flickering light from the television, her eyes lidded and her pupils blown wide in a way that had little to do with the dim lighting.

She was absolutely beautiful, a corner of Elsa's mind whispered, and her eyes... her eyes were dark and a little hazy, and yet filled with the most peaceful look of complete trust she thought that she'd ever seen. A trust that Elsa desperately wanted to live up to.

"I want to see," she breathed against Anna's cheek. "If I really can push you all the way to orgasm simply by talking to you." Slowly, she sucked the nearby earlobe into her mouth, and laved the back of it with languid strokes of the tip of her tongue that drew a strangled sort of whimper from the other woman. "I want to know just how far I can take you by using only my voice. In English..." Her fingers released the fiery hair, and instead drew lingering lines over the side and front of Anna's throat, which bobbed harshly. " _And in Italian._ " The abrupt shiver that seemed to run the entire length of Anna's body at the use of her native tongue made her smirk. "And I want you to hold absolutely still in the mean time. Understand?"

Anna's breathing was noticeably shallow, and there was a fine tremor of tension visible in her shoulders and arms. "You're going to kill me," she panted, and her voice was only halfway joking.

"Not fatally," Elsa promised with a smile, and lifted her head enough to kiss the tip of the freckled nose. "Are you comfortable with this?" she then questioned when their eyes met, and gave the wrists in her hold another light squeeze. "With everything?"

"I'm good." Anna rose up just enough for their lips to brush. "Though if you're seriously not going to touch me at all, we're gonna end up wrestling at some point."

Elsa chuckled, and nosed her. "If voice alone becomes too much, just tell me." She trailed a slow path down the center-line of Anna's cotton-covered torso with her free hand. "It's hardly as if I don't _want_ to touch you, after all."

"I'd kinda gotten that idea, yeah." The response wavered sharply when Elsa's fingers grazed over a straining nipple, and it was clear that Anna was already struggling to focus. "And, um, if- _fffuck."_ That, in a strangled sort of high pitch, when Elsa dipped her head to that sensitive spot behind Anna's ear that she remembered so well and gave it a curious suckle. "If I- oh _God,_ I really don't mind the pinning thi- _ing_ but if I do end up mm-minding?"

"Say the word." Elsa blew a slow breath over the now glistening spot, and watched goosebumps form in response. "Or pull free; that's alright, too. But I do _not_ want you to move aside from that." A single tap of her index finger against the base of Anna's palm warned her to keep her hands where they were before she released them and straightened, and a minor adjustment had her own feet hooking around the inside of Anna's knees; the motion pulling her thighs apart just enough that squeezing them together was no longer an option. "Including that. Don't think I can't feel it."

Anna flushed hotly. "Sorry."

"No need to apologize." Carefully, she brushed Anna's slightly ruffled bangs out of her face, and hid a smile at how those soft lips immediately relaxed when she trailed her fingers over them. "Just tell me what we agreed on."

"I, uhm..." Anna wet her lips, and seemed to be making a concentrated effort to steady her breathing. It wasn't doing much good, from what Elsa could see. "I'm allowed to talk?"

"You can make as much noise as you want," Elsa confirmed, and caught the sight of those pale eyes widening just before her view was obstructed. It was brief, but she swore that Anna's pupils had still managed to dilate even further when she let the t-shirt she'd previously been wearing drop to the floor and shook out her hair. With a smirk. "We did discover that sight is effective too, yes?"

"Elsa, you're already holding all the cards," was the choked reply – aimed squarely at her bra-clad chest. "Really; you don't need to stack the deck."

"Hmm." Her hands found purchase on the leather on either side of Anna's head, and she felt the stuttering contact of soft cotton against bare skin when their noses brushed and Anna's breathing hitched. "But I do play to win." Anna's lower lip was soft against her own mouth, and she gave it a few, curious nips before gently sucking on it in exchange for a brief huff. "Now..." Another light kiss, and she lifted herself until her face was hovering directly above Anna's. "What did we agree on?"

"I'm not allowed to move." Anna's respiration only increased further when Elsa curled one hand around the back of her neck. "Unless- unless I have to."

"Mmhm." This time, she gave in to the smile. "Which is when?"

"Any-" There was a sharp inhalation when Elsa's fingers slipped under the lower hem of Anna's t-shirt and her nails scored carefully over her lower belly. "- um, anytime I get uncomfortable?"

"Or if I tell you outright that you may," Elsa amended; tracing a single fingertip along the waistband of Anna's jeans. "But until then-" Somewhat regretful, she shifted her touch away from Anna's quivering stomach, and clasped her wrists loosely again while she placed her mouth right by one visibly flushed ear. "- all I want you to do is _listen_." Her left hand traced a feather-light path across Anna's cheek; until her thumb was resting at the center of those soft lips and she could feel the repeated warmth of shallow exhales. "Do you understand?"

"Yes," Anna breathed.

"Good girl," Elsa murmured, and filed the soft whimper that phrasing earned her away for future reference. "Now... I _am_ going to use as much Italian as I can." She blew a slow breath against the shell of Anna's ear, and just barely caught the motion of her shoulders bunching in response as she stopped herself from arching. _"Because I know you enjoy it, and because I will enjoy watching you react to it just as much_."

"Not fair," came the low hiss, and she could feel the faint tickle of lashes against her temple as the pale eyes squeezed shut; could feel the tightening of Anna's jaw under her hand, and feel that tightening extend all the way down to the tips of her toes in a futile attempt to stop the full-body shiver. "Really, _really_ not fair."

"Oh, I never claimed to be fair," Elsa purred against the warm skin and – when she felt Anna's lips part for a sharp breath – used her thumb to tug the full, lower one down and dip ever so slightly into the moisture beneath. "But I do have every intention of making you shatter completely with just my voice." Her thumb slipped free of Anna's mouth, and she trailed it – and it's accompanying sheen – slowly down over the point of her chin, the front of her throat, and onto the top of her cotton-covered chest. "Well..." A single fingernail scraped over the cloth that covered Anna's sternum, and she chuckled at the low, wanting sound. "Maybe a little more than just my voice."

"Oh, God..."

"Oh, no." Her teeth closed carefully around the nearby earlobe, and the light tug earned her a soft, needy mewl that was almost cut off before it began. "Not God."

"Coulda fooled me." Anna's breathing stuttered harshly when she nipped at the curve of her jaw. "I think this is the closest I've ever been to a religious experience."

Somehow, Elsa managed to limit her reaction to a half-grin. "If you're going to insist on making me laugh, I'm revoking the part of the rules that allow you to make sounds." This time, the bite was harder, but also placed lower; at the crook of Anna's shoulder and throat where the skin was less – though still quite – sensitive, and the guttural moan that accompanied her hard sucking and her pressing of Anna's wrists into the smooth leather sent tingles all the way down her spine. "Ones that make sense, at least."

"I'll be good," was the half-pleading answer, though Elsa still had to give a light, reminding press of her palm to Anna's belly when she pulled the same patch of soft skin into her mouth.

"I know you will," she murmured, and kissed the mark when she'd completed it. " _You were being very good last time, too."_ Her nails dragged over the skin on the insides of Anna's lower arms. " _I still can't go to sleep without remembering how your skin felt under my hands._ " The chances of Anna actually understanding her had to be slim to none – a large part of the reason that Elsa felt comfortable telling her these things to begin with – but her breathing still hitched and then shook when it fluttered against Elsa's cheek. " _How your voice broke when I took you._ " Her fingers traced the lower outline of Anna's ribcage, and when she cupped one breast through two layers of clothing, she nipped at a full, lower lip and tasted the rushing, breathless moan on her own tongue.

" _You do more to me by simply letting me touch you than others have by focusing their entire attention on me."_ The admission was little more than a whisper against the shell of Anna's ear, and she lingered there as she considered the truth behind it. " _I wonder if you even know?_ "

Anna's entire body was trembling; hard enough that Elsa decided – with a small smile – that she didn't know. That was alright, though; this was more than she was truly ready to reveal to her right now, at any rate. In this way, the language barrier worked in her favor; allowed her to be honest without truly being _honest._ The fact that Anna enjoyed it as much as she did certainly didn't hurt, either.

There was a part of her that knew the risk involved; not in their sexual encounters, but in the sheer level of raw emotion that Anna so effortlessly inspired in her. Knew that this was too deep, too powerful; that it needed to be handled with extreme care to prevent either of them from getting hurt, and that any sensible person would presumably be running screaming in the other direction when faced with this level of intensity so early in any kind of relationship.

Logically, Elsa should have run, too. But it felt too good, too _right_ to simply be in Anna's presence; to see her smile and hear her voice; to inhale the warm scent of her skin and taste it on her own tongue. Too intoxicating to feel the brush of soft cotton against her own, sensitized skin when she bit down again and Anna's entire body _jerked;_ too dizzying to feel the wrists under her hold tense and tremble, and to hear the soft, panting mewls and whimpers that escaped Anna's parted lips and warmed the skin at the edge of her face.

" _I think you were right,_ " she chuckled against the spot where Anna's cheekbone met her hairline. " _I could quite possibly make you come simply from this."_ The thighs she was straddling were shaking, after all, and she didn't need to hear the shallow, rapid exhales to know how fast Anna was breathing; that was obvious enough from how often the smooth cotton touched against her own chest. " _The one downside, of course, is that I don't get to touch you nearly as much as I want to. But believe me-_ " She consciously let her voice grow as low and husky as she could; lengthened her sentences beyond what was needed and took care to breathe a little more audibly, because _sound_ was what this was all about. " _\- I have every intention of making up for that when I get the chance._ "

And she did. The feeling of Anna's body under her hands was one she had sorely missed, and the hoarse, helpless little sounds spilling from the younger woman's lips were more than enough to make her dearly want to reacquaint herself with every single freckle. Later for that, however, because as much as watching and hearing Anna react made her lightheaded with arousal, what she wanted the most was to _give_.

"Such a good girl," she murmured – in English this time – and smiled when her words earned her a full-body shiver, with Anna actually forgetting herself enough to arch against her as she sucked in a hissing breath. " _I hope you realize that I'm taking meticulous, mental notes of every last thing that gives you pleasure,_ " she murmured against one flushed cheek, and felt something in her chest clench when she slipped her hand onto the smooth skin of Anna's waist and the immediate reaction was an intake of breath so sharp that it was almost a sob. " _I absolutely adore how responsive you are. How you never leave me guessing if you enjoy something, and how easy you make it for me to find out what you enjoy the most._ "

Her voice, clearly, was very close to the top of that list, and while Anna obviously also got a lot from the sensation of her breathing against her ear or the skin around it, it was the light, lingering touches Elsa was drawing across her lower abdomen that were making her head push back into the couch's leather and her back warp to press into the blonde's hand.

Not that Elsa had any intention of blaming her for breaking the 'no moving' rule. That had, after all, mainly been put in place so she could better know when Anna was lost enough to forget it, and the fact that she had reached that point so easily felt like quite an accomplishment. She _wanted_ to bring Anna this; to drive her so high that conscious thought became secondary to simple, primal pleasure, all with sufficient care that Anna would trust her enough to just _let go_.

The fact that it was actually _happening_ was honestly making her head spin, but she pushed it aside and re-centered her focus for two reasons. One was the thundering heartbeat that she could feel under her fingertips where they now rested at the center of Anna's chest. The other? That was the chilly touch of wetness against her cheek where it met Anna's, and that was enough for her head to jerk back and her heart to stutter in her chest.

"Hey." Her hand was free from beneath Anna's clothes before she'd even consciously thought about it, and she brushed gently at the traces of tears on flushed cheeks. "Should we stop?"

"No!" Anna gasped; voice low and rough as her eyelids fluttered rapidly and sent fresh beads of moisture slipping between her freckles. "Don't stop," she pleaded hoarsely, and curled her hands enough that she could press the tips of her fingers against Elsa's other hand where it still rested against her wrists. "Feels good," she promised, and the smile in her misty eyes remained genuine even under Elsa's thorough scrutiny. "Just- just intense."

Elsa continued to study her for long moments. She watched for the faintest out-of-place twitch in Anna's facial muscles – something she should be able to pick up on even in this light given that they were breathing the same air – but much to her relief, she couldn't find a single thing in those lovely eyes but trust, affection and want.

Still, caution. Care. Anna reacting to the intensity was understandable, but Elsa remained concerned; very aware of the fact that as the dominant partner – at least in this particular instance – the responsibility for ensuring Anna's comfort rested squarely on her shoulders.

"Are you certain?" She released the wrists fully now, and wordlessly dispelled the 'no touching' rule by placing one of Anna's hands on her own cheek. "You have every right to change your mind about anything we start, at any point."

"I know." Warm, slightly shaky fingers traced over the side of her face and into her hair, and Anna's breath was sweet against her mouth when those same fingers curled to pull her closer. "But I want this." Closer still; until their foreheads and noses were touching; until Elsa had to lower herself onto her elbows to keep her shoulders from shaking, and could count every single glint of color – of _emotion_ – in Anna's eyes. "I want _you_."

It really was insane how the lightest brush of Anna's lips against hers could make her very blood sing. Insane, but _true_ , and now _she_ was the one shivering as the kiss deepened and Anna sighed into her mouth. She shivered again when a second, warm hand slid along the bare skin of her arm and onto the equally bare skin of her back, then pressed there to bring them closer along the length of their bodies.

Closer was, in one word, uncomfortable, and in another, impossible as long as Elsa was on her knees astride Anna's thighs, but that was fixable. Anna shifted below her; tightening her hold as Elsa slid a hand down her side, over her hip and onto her knee. Their lips only parted for the occasional breath, and if the movie was still going, Elsa wasn't aware of it. Instead, her hearing was completely attuned to the slow, soft sound that made her entire body tingle when her hips nestled safely between Anna's legs, and then to the hissed breath that tickled her face when she rocked forward.

"Uncomfortable?" she questioned, since she _was_ pretty much blanketing her host with her own body at this point; save what little weight she could support on one elbow.

"No." The thighs bracketing her tightened as if to keep her from moving away, and when Elsa rolled her hips again, there was another sharp gasp followed by the definite press of fingers against her spine as Anna arched.

The skin behind the curve of Anna's jaw was smooth and deliciously sensitive, and scraping her teeth over it caused a shuddering exhale. Biting down turned the exhale into a low keen, and tugging gently on the small patch she'd caught in her teeth earned her a curse, as well as the sudden tightening of Anna's fingers in her hair that pulled a groan from her own throat.

" _You..."_ She paused long enough to give the skin a hard suckle that had Anna's voice breaking halfway through a moan. "... _are criminally exquisite._ " Her return to Italian sent a tremor through the slender body beneath her own, and when she nudged enough for Anna to turn her head and focused her attention on the ear that she had woefully neglected so far, she could follow the sudden trail of gooseflesh with her eyes. "And I seem to remember-" A sharp nip to the nearby earlobe, and a switch of languages again. "- having you in this position before, hm?"

Anna's answering laugh was low and breathy and did unbelievable things to her heartrate. "A lot- lot less clothes in the way then."

"Mmhm." Elsa half-chuckled, half-purred at the memory and – as she pressed forward and down again – lifted her head enough that she could see the whitening of Anna's lower lip as it was snared between her teeth; enough that she could coax it free with her own mouth, and curl the fingers of one hand around a denim-clad hip when Anna jerked against her and there was the the faint scrape of nails along the small of her back. "That's it," she murmured; biting gently at Anna's jawline and feeling another, jolting lift beneath her. "Set a rhythm for me."

"Y- _ah!"_ The spot behind Anna's ear was equally delicate on this side, apparently. "You're not wear-" Another scrape of her teeth turned the words into a trembling whine, and this time, the tug on her hair as Anna's hand clenched made her _growl_. "You're not w- wearing th-"

"Do I need to be?" She traced the shell of that ear with her lips and clasped the hip in her hold a little tighter; guiding the uneven jerking into a slow, steady motion that she met and matched while Anna's face pressed into her neck and hot, hitching breathing washed over her skin. "Your body remembers, doesn't it?" Her hand curled around the back of Anna's knee and pushed; spreading her wider and pressing that much closer in exchange for a harsh puff of air. "The way it felt to have me inside you like that?"

"Oh, _fuck..._ " Both of Anna's hands were pressing into her back, now; firm, but trembling, and when Elsa slid her touch up the inside of the jean-clad thigh and adjusted the way they moved together – slower, but firmer – the fiery head snapped back against the soft leather with a groan.

"Focus on that," she murmured against the corner of parted, kiss-swollen lips while Anna's fingers curled in the waistband of her pants. "Concentrate, _dolcezza_. You can feel it, can't you?" Moving against Anna in a certain way hit a sweet spot that sent a ragged gasp rushing past her ear, and Elsa smiled against a smatter of freckles as she repeated the motion. "Every thrust." Her lips nipped at smooth skin, and Anna dug her fingers into her shoulder and mewled. "Every stroke." Anna was pressing impossibly closer; breathless and wanting, and her back was curving enough that Elsa could slip an arm underneath her and pull her closer still. "Every..." Kiss. "Single..." Nip. "Motion." _Bite_ , and a choked cry that made her entire body flare.

The fingers that weren't splayed over the small of Anna's back also found warm skin, now; curling around the side of her ribcage and slipping higher, and Anna, Elsa privately decided, was a _vision_. Flushed and panting; eyes tightly shut and lips unthinkingly parted in a perfect, little 'o'; hair mussed and clothing rumpled, and a scattering of love bites littering both sides of her throat.

Because of _her_.

It really should have been obvious that _Elsa_ was the one causing this reaction, but the realization still sent a staggering jolt through her that started at the top of her skull and traveled all the way down to the tips of her toes. Everything about this – from the press of Anna's nails against the space between her shoulders, to the stuttering rush of her name, to the sight of _her marks_ on Anna's skin - called to the most base, possessive part of her, and _God_ , what this woman could do to her without even knowing it.

" _You have_ _ **no idea**_ _what you do to me_ ," she growled against an unblemished patch of skin, and noted – somewhere far off – how the rough want in her voice sent a clenching shudder all the way through Anna's body; how her hands pulled and her breathing stuttered with a hiccuping, half-sob. " _I watch you, hear you, taste you like this, and all I can think of is that the mere_ _ **idea**_ _of you being this way with anyone else makes me want to tear them to shreds."_ Her hand found a breast, and Anna's legs tightened around her while the broken mewl that rushed past her ear was the only thing Elsa could hear and only made her rock forward harder. " _I want to be the_ _ **only one**_ _who can do this to you; who can see you this way. I want you to be_ _ **mine**_ _."_

"Els- ah!" Anna's voice was trembling almost as much as her body; a fine, constant tremor that went from the fingers that pressed into Elsa's back, along her arms, from her shoulders through her torso and down along the length of her legs. " _Please,_ I-" Her eyes remained tightly shut and the flush in her cheeks glistened below the occasional trail of wetness, but a shaky hand still managed to curl around the wrist of the hand Elsa had slipped beneath her shirt. " _More_."

"More," Elsa parroted in a murmur, and let their lips brush. That was a broad request indeed, but she slid her touch lower and figured that she'd interpreted correctly when she dipped her fingertips below the waistband of Anna's jeans and heard her take four breaths in less than two seconds. "Here?"

" _Yes._ " The answer was little more than a hiss of air through clenched teeth and still enough to make her head swim, but she managed to retain enough clarity to slip her hand between their bodies. Over Anna's clothes, though, which earned her a soft, frustrated sound.

"Patience," she breathed against those soft lips, and tasted the hitching keen on her own tongue when she curled her fingers against the fabric. "Keep moving for me." Anna's hips jerked, and the added, much more focused pressure pulled a choked moan from low in her throat. "That's it," she coaxed; her voice rough with arousal as nails scored against the center of her back, and shifted her other hand from the small of Anna's back up to support the back of her head. "God, what you do to me like this." Her tongue found that one spot behind Anna's ear again, and her fingers tightened in the copper hair at the resulting gasp. " _So fucking beautiful._ Such a good girl."

" _Fuck!_ " This time, Anna's entire body _jerked_ at the praise, and there was _definitely_ going to be marks on Elsa's back by morning. "Don't stop," came the wavering pleading; hot against the side of her throat as Anna bit at the skin there and her thighs trembled. "Please don't stop."

"Not until you come for me," Elsa husked – right against the center of the nearby ear – and that was all it took. Anna's breathing hitched once, twice, and she stilled completely for a timeless instant. Finally, she _shook_ – everywhere – and Elsa cupped the back of her head and kept murmuring softly in her ear; through the sting of teeth sinking into her shoulder and nails raking down her back; through the gasps and mewls muffled against her skin as Anna trembled against her, and through the hiccuping cries that eventually became soft sobs as she slowed her stroking and rubbed gentle circles against the back of Anna's head.

"You alright?" she questioned gently against Anna's hairline, and felt a shaky nod against the crook of her neck. "Okay. Can you talk?" A soft whine was the answer to that, and she pressed a kiss to the sweaty temple while panting breaths chilled the tear-dampened skin on her own shoulder and Anna's hands shook against her back; trying to find something to hold on to. "Ssh; you're safe, I promise. Do you want me to get off you?" The arms around her tightened weakly in what Elsa took for a 'no', and she nuzzled her nose into the fiery hair. "Alright. I'm going to move my hand now, okay?"

"'Kay." Anna's voice was weak and definitely still tearful, but it was _there_ , and Elsa kissed her forehead as she slipped her hand from from between their bodies. She did her best to keep the drag of contact light, but Anna still jolted – hyper-sensitive – and whimpered.

"Shh-sh-sh. I'm sorry _;_ no more right now," she promised, and secured a pillow that had been knocked to the floor at some point; slipping it under Anna's head before gently guiding her back onto it. "You did so, so well, _dolcezza_." Gently, she brushed the errant strands of hair out of Anna's face when the younger woman dropped her head back far enough that she could see her, and pressed another kiss to her temple. "Is it alright if I touch your face?"

"Yeah." The voice was still low and hoarse, but Anna's breathing was settling even if her eyes were still closed, and the fingers that rested against Elsa's skin were slowly calming, as well. "Yeah, that's- that's fine."

Elsa couldn't remember ever being so _careful_ with another person, but just as Anna called to the parts of her that wanted to _take_ and _claim_ , she also inspired the parts that wanted nothing more than to _comfort_ and _protect_. She had never been as gentle as she was with this woman; never traced her fingers as tenderly as when she used them to clear tear-tracks from soft cheeks, and never felt her heart ache as sweetly as it did when she brushed her lips over each of the closed eyelids and felt warm fingers curl around the back of her neck.

"May I kiss you?" she asked when their foreheads touched. "On the mouth?"

"Please," Anna breathed, and tightened her hold the little that it took to pull her in.

It was _so sweet_. Soft and tender, with Anna's increasingly steady breathing warming her skin as their lips slid together and the gentle fingers of two warm hands tangled themselves in Elsa's hair. Slow, too; like the careful way in which her own fingers stroked that beautiful face. Even when the contact deepened, it never turned heavy or hasty; staying instead light and languid, and bringing home to Elsa just what it meant to have something feel so good – so _right_ \- that it ached.

So when a hand started tracing lingering lines over her neck, along her shoulder and down the top of her chest, she caught it with her own, and smiled when she pulled back enough that she could press a kiss to Anna's knuckles instead. "I'm fine," she promised, and turned the hand over to kiss its palm, too. "Don't worry about me."

The chuckle warmed her from the inside out. "What?" Anna teased. "Not in the mood? After _that?_ "

Elsa kissed her again because she could. "More like 'perfectly content with satisfying _you'_ ," she murmured, and watched the long lashes flutter when she brushed her lips against the point of Anna's chin. "I genuinely don't need more than that. Not right now, at least."

"'Kay." Anna nuzzled into her shoulder with a slow sigh, and Elsa closed her eyes and rested her cheek against the soft hair while gentle fingers trailed lazily over her spine. "I'm not stupid enough to bitch about cuddles."

"If being unable to breathe doesn't concern you, I fear for your sanity." The low snort of laughter made her smile, though she did lift herself up a fraction when Anna shifted beneath her and took a somewhat uneven breath. "Mental acuity setting in, I take it?"

Anna gave her side a tweak. "You are officially the biggest smartass in the history of ever," she decided. "No; I just-" Pause, and blush that Elsa could actually _feel_. "Um, if we're not going to do anything else, I- kinda need a shower." Her eyes didn't crack open until Elsa had shifted fully onto her knees; sitting back on her own feet with her hands resting on Anna's waist. When did they open, however, the tint to her cheeks only deepened.

"What?"

"Uh..." Pause. "Could you put your shirt back on?" Elsa wasn't entirely sure what her expression looked like, but it was enough for the flush in Anna's cheeks to take over her whole face. "It's not nice to tease," came the weak defense.

Ah. Elsa glanced down at her half-clad self, and swallowed a smile. "Of course." She twisted to a proper seat when Anna pulled her legs up, and by the time the discarded t-shirt was collected from the floor and settled back into place over her shoulders, they were both standing.

And Anna, she realized with a tiny twist of her gut, was having a hard time meeting her eyes.

"Tell me," she requested as she curled her fingers under Anna's chin to bring her eyes up, and tried not to think about a different time when she'd thought that _maybe_ , and been badly burned by someone who was sweet and kind, but ultimately only interested in fun. "Please? Did I-"

"No." A single word; soft, but carrying enough conviction that the rocks slipped from her shoulders. " _God_ , no, Elsa; nothing like th-" Anna stopped herself there and sighed. "I really shouldn't be making such a mess of this," she muttered as if to herself, and then pressed a kiss to Elsa's cheek. "I'm fine; I swear. That was just... really intense, y'know? And I need to... process, I guess? Decompress, maybe."

The thought of Anna being upset for any reason – let alone one caused by her in any way – was enough to make it feel as if her insides were being squeezed, but she took heart in the open honesty in those lovely eyes, and brushed the backs of her fingers over Anna's cheek as she ducked her head for another light kiss. "Alright. Alone?"

"Yeah." A soft chuckle, and a second press of that warm mouth against her own. "And I really _do_ need a shower. At this rate, I should make you do _my_ laundry." Two fingers caught a fold of her shirt and gave it playful, little yank. "Because you definitely got me back for the coffee."

"Aha." What, Elsa wondered, was more obvious right now? The heat in her cheeks, or the absolutely stupid smile on her face? "Well, don't let me stop you." Obligingly, she dropped back into the couch and settled her hands in her lap. "I'm not going anywhere."

"Better not," Anna told her as she slipped between Elsa's knees and the coffee table. "I'll hunt you down if I have to."

Once the bathroom door closed, the DVD menu had restarted itself several times before Elsa slipped free of her own thoughts and leaned back into the cushions with a slow exhale. She fretted because it was in her nature, and because she cared enough about Anna that in spite of the assurances, she was still concerned. Making a mess of this was something she dearly wanted to avoid, so she let her mind do what it did best; turned the situation around and examined it from every angle, worried at every word and smile and look like a dog with a bone until she was certain that every last detail was accounted for.

That, due to practice and and a brilliance that was more innate than learned, thankfully never took long. But it still bothered her to have caused Anna any kind of discomfort; no matter the reason. She'd seemed so _unsettled_ , and what Elsa couldn't figure out was how to make that better.

 _You were unsettled, too_. Her practical side snuck up and tapped her on the shoulder. _But let's not forget exactly how you got past that, hm?_

Of course. Elsa closed her eyes and resisted the urge to slap herself. When she had been in Anna's proverbial shoes, she'd had the benefit of a distraction: Anna herself. Focusing on her – on the warmth of her skin, the taste of her mouth, how much she enjoyed touching her and how much her touch was _enjoyed_ – had let her nudge aside the fact that it felt as if her soul was shaking. She had found all the space she needed to let the feeling lessen until it was manageable, simply by immersing herself in Anna and the pleasure she could bring her.

And because of what Elsa had told her, Anna had elected to find a different way to give herself the breathing room that _she_ now needed. The least Elsa could do, then, she decided with a glance towards the bathroom door when she heard the shower start, was to respect that, and ideally find a way to provide some form of comfort, as well, when Anna was ready for it.

The DVD menu started playing its song from the top, and Elsa ignored it completely as she rose to her feet and allowed her brain to ramble ingredients at her as she padded across the room; turning on lights as she went.

Hopefully, Anna wouldn't mind having her kitchen invaded by a foreign power.


	5. Sabato; Mezzanotte

Chocolate made damn near everything better. That was a truth that Elsa knew on a very deep level; one that was practically genetic, and therefore one she had grown up with. The recipe she was currently seeing about working through was one that her grandmother had originally taught her when she was a child, and by now, she had been through the process often enough that she could about complete it with her eyes closed. The hardest part was finding _dark_ chocolate since Anna clearly preferred the milk variety, but a little searching revealed what she needed, and it wasn't long before she had her ingredients and the few tools she needed lined up on the counter.

Almost, at least, she considered, and sent a glance towards the bathroom door as she carefully chopped the chocolate into smaller, more manageable pieces. She hadn't been able to find the kind of milk that she preferred to use (what Anna stocked was lighter), but that was easily enough fixed by adjusting the amount of milk versus the amount of cream. There were other things where she had to make minor adjustments – differences between the products available in the US and the ones she had learned to use back home – but she had been in this country long enough and completed this particular recipe enough times that she knew how to make a product that was at least very close to the original.

Elsa knew several recipes from memory, and thanks to her family and her region of origin, a good number of them either included or were based on chocolate. The downside was that she could do her favorites without conscious thought, which in turn meant that her mind invariably turned to other things as she worked. She didn't need to watch for the sugar, milk, cream and corn starch to mix properly because she could _feel_ that the mixture was right through the amount of effort it took for her to move the whisk around the bowl. She didn't need to concentrate to determine if the taste was right, because her brain knew the right taste well enough to catalog it without any actual thought involved.

So instead, she kept glancing towards the bathroom door. There were three glances while she poured the finished mixture into a saucepan and another while she put the empty bowl in the sink. Rinsing the bowl out was two more glances, and while she washed it... well, she lost count.

The water in the bathroom hadn't stopped running yet, and although the minutes that had passed barely qualified for a shower of average length, worrying was something that Elsa was very, very good at.

Especially over nothing, which - she considered as she gently whisked the warming mixture and frowned at it - she dearly hoped that this was. It wasn't that she didn't believe Anna. It was more that... well, that people had a tendency to say what they _wanted_ to be true, and sometimes confused that for what actually _was_ true.

_I'm fine; I swear._

At the same time, if she was reading the signs correctly and Anna _was_ a psychology student, Elsa was probably safe in assuming that she knew the pitfalls of miscommunication better than many others. That she wouldn't lie if she could help it; at least not about anything important.

And this – _them_ – that was important to Anna, too.

She hoped.

Elsa sighed and banished that train of thought with a minute shake of her head; re-centering her focus on the thickened mix in the saucepan and guiding the whisk through it a few more times before turning off the stove and moving the pot to a cold spot. That done, she found a spoon and set about folding the chopped chocolate into the mixture; something that she _did_ need to focus on in order to make sure that the end result came out as smooth and evenly mixed as she wanted it to.

"Whoa." Behind her, she belatedly picked up on the sound of a door closing softly. "Something smells... absolutely incredible."

"Flattery will get you everywhere." Her voice was warm and relaxed on purpose, though the chuckle was as genuine as they came because she had never in her life heard a human being drool in actual _words_ before. At least not over food.

The DVD menu was still cheerfully looping and casting colored rays of light across the room, but the music was low enough that it didn't quite drown out the soft sound of bare feet. Elsa didn't turn away from her work, but she _did_ sneak a glance out of the corner of her eye when there was movement in her peripheral vision; enough that she could quickly scan Anna as she approached and make note of the distinct lack of tension around her eyes and mouth, as well as the way in which the fiery hair now fell in loose waves around her shoulders, and the unconcerned display of far more skin than had previously been the case.

Cargo shorts and a tank top was a perfectly acceptable way to dress, Elsa firmly reminded her suddenly purring body, and she had certainly seen Anna in less, even if she – at the time – hadn't really had the chance to study the freckles that extended from her shoulders down the length of her arms in increasingly dispersed spatters. Thinking about _doing_ just that was... definitely distracting. Enough that her attempt to _un-_ distract herself took enough of her focus that she completely missed the fact that Anna was speaking, and had to give her head a little shake to clear it. "Sorry, what?"

Anna – who was now standing close enough that Elsa could just barely feel the heat of her body – chuckled. "I asked what you're making," she repeated kindly, and peered over Elsa's shoulder with a lift of her brows. "Aside from the fact that it apparently contains enough chocolate to be fatal."

"Not quite," Elsa demurred, and smiled as she slowly stirred the mixture. "How are you feeling?"

The question was appreciated, she guessed, based on the soft press of softer lips to her cheek. "Better, thanks," Anna told her; warm hands settling lightly on the sides of Elsa's waist and a chin coming to rest on her shoulder. "How do you ask that in Italian? _Come sta?"_

"Mm, that's probably closer to 'how are you'," Elsa mused, and felt her heart give a little flip at the realization that Anna had apparently been _reading up_. "And _come sta_ is the polite version; you'd use that with a stranger, or your boss. With people you're closer to-" Her gaze dropped to the arms that now wound loosely around her middle, and her lips twitched. "- you would say _come stai."_

At the edge of her vision, she could make out the narrowing of the pale eyes. "See, that's what I have most trouble with, when it comes to other languages," Anna decided wryly. "The subtleties; rules that no one ever mention, but which still mean so much when it comes to how you address some people, but not others."

"Oh, of course." Elsa quirked a eyebrow. "English has no such thing. Anyone could greet, say, the President, with _How's it hangin'?_ and no one would so much as blink."

Anna blinked twice, and then snickered. "Yeah, okay. Fair point."

"Thank you." Elsa turned her head enough that she could brush her lips against one freckled cheek. "Care for a taste?"

The question made Anna's eyes absolutely light up in response, and Elsa only barely managed to swallow a grin as she reached for a fresh spoon-

-and found her wrist caught between warm fingers, and the one she'd used herself stolen away.

"My tongue has been in your mouth," Anna offered by way of wry explanation as she stepped around to Elsa's side and dipped the spoon back into the casserole. "I don't think we gotta worry about sharing a sp- ooooooh, my God." She'd only barely tasted the thick drop that was escaping over the edge of the utensil, and Elsa felt her eyebrows jerk up significantly when even that was enough to have the redhead actually _leaning against the counter_.

Well, then. Chocolate was clearly something of a cure-all where Anna was concerned, and Elsa found herself making a definite note of that, too.

"This..." Anna was giving the opposite wall a very intense, very concentrated look as she sucked the spoon clean, and then tapped it against her own chin. "This is not hot chocolate," she eventually decided. "This is a culinary orgasm."

Elsa was currently biting her lip so hard that she was sure she was going to draw blood, and she brought one hand up to scratch her nose in an effort to distract herself from the guffawing laughter that dearly wanted to burst free. It didn't help, so she scrubbed a hand over her face instead and – when she chanced a peek at Anna – hoped that her expression didn't look as pained as it felt.

It probably did, because she was getting a very droll look from those pale eyes, and Elsa shrugged her shoulders even as she made a helpless little noise into her own hand.

"You can laugh, you dork," Anna sighed.

So Elsa did, and got a spoonful of chocolate to the nose for her trouble.

"Hey!" Anna's aim was startlingly accurate, and try as she might, even Elsa's best side-step still landed a fresh glob on her shoulder. She did manage to dodge the swipe of two chocolate-coated fingertips, at least. "At this rate, I'm going to need a shower, too!"

"Hm." That made her attacker still, and count on her fingers. "You. Naked. Wet." Anna settled the spoon back in her mouth and squinted at the ceiling, then shrugged her shoulders. "I bfail to shee de ishue," she decided before removing the spoon again with a faint 'pop' of her lips and a lift of her eyebrows. "Remind me to hide the towels."

"Cute." Elsa leaned one hip against the counter as she cleared the chocolate from her face. "Would you like a cup for that, or are you just going to eat it directly out of the casserole?"

"I would if I had to," was the easy response, alongside a half-grin as Anna reached up – with her clean hand, thankfully – and wiped away a small spatter that had escaped Elsa's own fingers. "Seriously; this stuff is amazing."

"Always glad to see another convert to _proper_ hot chocolate," Elsa noted. Her cheek made her have to duck another swipe, which she did with an amused smirk and the wag of a single finger. "Careful; I haven't given you the recipe."

"So?"

"So." She caught the hand by the wrist when Anna lunged for her again, and chuckled at the playful scowl. "If you want to have this again, I suggest you be nice to me at least until I _do_." Pause, and a slow drag of her lips over Anna's skin that let her gather up some of the still-warm chocolate and made the younger woman draw in an audible breath. "Which will probably take a while, if your current behavior is any indication."

" _My_ behav-" Anna's mouth shut with a faint _click_ of her teeth before she finished speaking, though Elsa allowed that it probably had something to do with the fact that she'd just sucked the tip of one, chocolate-coated finger into her own mouth.

"That… isn't fair," came the half-whimpered, half-groaned observation a few moments later, to which Elsa shrugged her shoulders as she turned the hand she held over to examine it for any further stains.

"No," she replied simply, and somehow - somehow - managed to rein in her smirk when Anna actually _growled_ in reply.

"Brat," the redhead groused. "You're lucky you make such good hot chocolate."

Now _that_ , Elsa couldn't stop herself from laughing at. "Oh, really?" She gave the hand in her own a light tug, and _God_ , it was so _easy_ to curl her arms around Anna's waist; to duck her head just enough for their lips to brush, and to feel the motion of the smile that met her halfway. "And I suppose that's my only redeeming feature, hm?"

"Well, maybe not," Anna allowed, and there was the newly familiar warmth of fingers lacing behind her back. "You do also make for a pretty decent backrest."

"I live to serve," Elsa returned dryly. "This isn't persuading me to hand over the recipe any sooner, by the way."

"That's fine," was the amused answer. "One more excuse for you to come over, y'know? Or for me to visit you, if that's what it takes."

True, Elsa privately considered, and certainly not a brand of reasoning that she was about to argue with.

"But..." Anna extracted herself from their loose embrace, and Elsa only barely managed to restrain herself from grumpily grabbing onto her top and pulling her back in. "I guess I should at least try to return the favor, since you were nice enough to introduce me to the most sinful drink known to man. Or woman."

"Oh?" She watched with a slight, curious cant of her head as Anna pulled open the small freezer, but was unable to see exactly what was removed from it since the redhead's body was blocking her view.

"Mmhm." There was the soft clink of a plate being set down on the counter. "Could you get me two spoons, please?" Anna requested, with her shoulders bunching a little as she pulled the lid off of what Elsa now recognized as a tub of ice cream. "Big and small. And a fork."

Now she was definitely curious - not to mention a little confused about where the fork fit in - so Elsa did as asked and retrieved both a fork and a tablespoon from the top drawer, as well as a teaspoon that wasn't currently sitting in a casserole half-filled with thick chocolate.

"Thanks." Anna accepted the implements with a smile when Elsa got close enough to hand them over, and then proceeded to… well, do whatever it was that she was intending to, Elsa supposed, though exactly what that _was_ , she couldn't quite tell even as she watched. She started with the tablespoon, and used that to dig out two large, roughly round balls of ice cream, which she then proceeded to round more properly with the teaspoon. Then - when the first two balls had been stacked on the plate next to her - came a third, much more oblong sphere which was formed and smoothed in much the same way. That shape stayed on the big spoon for longer though, and it was here that Anna set aside the teaspoon (popped it into her own mouth, actually) and used the tines of the fork to deftly and quickly carve a wide semi-circle into it while her chosen medium was still hard enough for her to work with.

She did leave in one large chunk, which she then easily shaped further until the whole thing mostly resembled a buck-toothed grin.

"It's a snowman," Elsa noted a touch dumbly a few moments later; leaning on the counter on one hand as she watched Anna work with remarkable dexterity.

"Yup." Tanned fingers carefully pressed two small, round chocolates into place to serve as the eyes. "Well... technically I guess it's an ice cream man, but that's more fitting for summer anyway, right?"

"Right." Because why not? It was certainly the first time that Elsa had ever seen anyone craft a snowman from ice cream – particularly at this speed, though the comfortable temperature in the apartment probably didn't leave much choice in the matter – and she wagered that if she ever had imagined such a thing herself, she probably wouldn't have expected the flavor of choice to be _Lunar Cheesecake_. "Did you come up with this around Halloween, by any chance?"

That earned her a little laugh. "No, but that's not a bad idea. He does look kinda zombie-ish like this," Anna mused. "You think it would be possible to maybe mix this with... Hm." A brief pause while she placed a few more small chocolates as buttons. "What's a flavor that has some red in it? _Triple Grape_ , maybe? That could look sorta gory."

"Probably," she agreed. "Not exactly ideal for giving to trick-or-treaters, though."

"No. But he'd still make a nice, spooky dessert." Anna gave her a wink over one, bare shoulder, and then neatly twirled in place as she held the plate aloft with a flourish. "Ta-daah! Olaf the First!"

It was, Elsa idly reflected, the goofiest looking zombie-snowman that she had ever seen. Though, granted, that wasn't saying much, and especially not if she took the whole crafted-from-ice-cream variable into consideration. It was, however, curiously adorable, which was in no way diminished by its maker's crooked grin, or the playful sparkle in those pale eyes.

"The first out of...?" she wondered. Her tone was teasing, but she felt her own expression sober when Anna's did the same, and there was an oddly serious glint in the look she was getting now, even if the steady affection in it never so much as wavered.

"Out of however many you want," Anna responded easily, though there was – unless Elsa was very much mistaken – a slight tint to her cheeks as she set down the small plate, and then turned away entirely under the pretense of digging out a spoon.

Elsa's fingers closed around the spoon that had been resting on the counter the entire time that Anna had been working, and she focused on the sensation of the cool metal warming against her skin. It was... a little difficult to breathe, after that, but in a good way. Staying on her feet was also taking more effort than normal, and she took stock of her own body and wondered mainly if this... if this was what it was supposed to feel like; this rapid, almost dizzying shift from warm familiarity to scorching passion to stomach-clenching emotion that all seemed to happen between one breath and the next.

Mostly, it felt as if she was walking across a tightrope, Elsa mused as she turned the spoon over and studied the way that the metal glittered in the warm lighting. Blindfolded and a few hundred feet in the air; probably above something hard and spiky, and in some very severe winds. Exhilarating, certainly, but at the same time-

"This is kinda scary." A pair of bare, tanned feet and shins entered her field of vision, and when she lifted her head enough that she could see Anna nibbling at her own lip, Elsa nodded once (though her choice of descriptor would probably have been closer to 'terrifying'). "Why is that?"

"Because it feels right?" Elsa half-answered, half-asked, and put the spoon aside before leaning back against the counter and curling her arms around herself. "I think that perhaps it's-" She dropped her gaze and cleared her throat softly. "- because it's so... easy. Comfortable, but... at the same time it's as if everything is happening entirely too fast." A low hum of what she took to be wry agreement reached her ears, so Elsa continued. "It mainly feels as if I'm-"

"Waiting for the other shoe to drop?" Anna's hands were warm where they settled against her skin, and gently pried her arms free before letting their fingers twine between them. "Like maybe this is all a little _too_ easy?" A pause while Elsa nodded, and then a soft, almost breathless little laugh. "I mostly feel like I took a flying leap off the Brooklyn Bridge with some kind of rope tied to my ankles. Only I have no idea if it's the right kind of rope, or if it's short enough that I won't end up faceplanting in the East River." There were palms sliding slowly up her arms now, and when those palms eventually settled on her shoulders, Elsa shifted her own hold until her fingers hooked loosely behind the small of the redhead's back. "So at least we can freak out together, if that helps."

"I'm not freaking out," Elsa protested, but felt the additional heat in her cheeks when Anna simply quirked an eloquent eyebrow at her in response. "Alright. I'm not freaking out _much_ ," she corrected, and laced her fingers together a little tighter; until Anna's arms were circling her shoulders and the redhead was leaning against her. "And it helps," she then admitted more softly when their foreheads touched and she could make out the faint tension in the skin around Anna's eyes. "Actually, just being around you helps, though I'm definitely stressing over it when I have time to think. I genuinely cannot control this, and that _terrifies_ me."

"Don't take this the wrong way, but I am _so_ glad to hear that." A slow exhale warmed the lower half of her face, and Elsa watched long, dark lashes curl gently against sun-kissed skin as the pale eyes slipped shut and Anna slumped against her. "Because this is making my vital organs do somersaults, and it would really suck to be alone in that."

"You're not," she promised softly, and drew idle lines over Anna's back in exchange for a low hum. "But it does all feel a little-"

"-crazy," Anna agreed, and cracked one eye back open as she scrunched up her nose. "Case in point: we're already finishing each other's-

"-sandwiches?"

"Dork." That earned her a light headbutt even as Anna laughed, and the sensation of those soft fingers slipping over the backs of her shoulders combined with the warm weight of her body until Elsa was all but ready to fall asleep exactly where she was. "That's what I was gonna say."

"Wasn't that the point?" Elsa wondered, and kept her expression as innocent as possible when the pale eyes narrowed at her.

"You're in a very playful mood," Anna decided after a few moments of curious study. "And yes, I'm basing that on a grand total of, what? Six hours actually spent in the same room with you?" Discounting sex, obviously, Elsa deduced, or the number would be higher. "You are, though; aren't you?"

Elsa pursed her lips, but still couldn't quite hold back her smile when she brushed a few, errant locks of burnished hair behind Anna's ear, and felt her lean into the touch. "I don't think I ever asked exactly what your major was, but I'm going to assume that it has something to do with psychology."

"Sports psychology endgame, but yeah." A crooked grin, and a friendly scratch to the back of her neck. "Don't change the subject."

"Of course not." Elsa nipped at the tip of a freckled nose, and smiled at the resulting giggle. "Yes, I suppose I am," she then admitted.

"Are you usually this way?" Anna's voice – and expression – was very carefully neutral, and Elsa studied her for all of one second before mentally tacking 'with the people you sleep with' onto the end of the question.

"No." Jealousy was – at least to her – flattering, but she wasn't about to let it be caused by Anna thinking that she was just one more in a long line. Relationships certainly wasn't a subject that Elsa counted herself as any kind of an expert in, but the amount of toxicity _that_ would be inviting was patently obvious, and better nipped in the bud. "As I mentioned earlier, I'm comfortable with you." Slowly, she traced a line along the upper curve of one copper eyebrow, and then let the tip of her finger continue down the slope of Anna's nose. "With _you_ ," she repeated for emphasis, and gave the tip of that nose a little tap for good measure while holding the now slightly wide-eyed gaze. "Alright?"

They were close enough for her to feel the slight hitch in Anna's breathing; close enough that she could see the flicker of emotion in her eyes, and – when she let the lone fingertip glide lower and trace a set of soft lips – could pick up on the irregularity in her exhales.

"Yeah," the redhead whispered a little hoarsely, and Elsa could feel her fingers tightening rhythmically in the fabric that covered her own shoulders. "That- that's alright."

"I know that we haven't..." She paused, and chewed her own, lower lip for a moment as she tried to gather her thoughts. "... haven't exactly talked about what this is." Briefly, she gestured between the two of them with one hand, even though they were too close for either of them to actually see the motion. "And it's probably fairly obvious that I tend to keep things, um, simp- hey." Her fingers were curling under Anna's chin and gently nudging her head back up a split-second after it started to drop, and Elsa waited until she could catch those eyes with her own again. "Listen to me, alright? I've had my share of casual sex; that's worked well for me for a long time and I have no issues with admitting to it, nor am I going to pretend to be ashamed of it. However." She canted her own head forward a fraction, and let her hand drift up until it was cupping one warm cheek. "None of them – _not one_ – ever managed to touch me like you have; physically or otherwise."

"Anna." The pale eyes had closed, and Elsa waited for them to open again before she continued, because this was something that she needed Anna to know as much as she suspected that the other woman needed to hear it. "I haven't taken anyone into my bedroom since you were there. And just for the record, I haven't spent time in anyone else's either." A faint twitch of her lips, then, as she tried to lighten the mood a little. "Well... aside from yours, a few hours ago. Yes, this scares me beyond all good sense, and no, I really don't have a clue how to go about this," she admitted softly. "But I will still do whatever I can to make it _work_."

Anna made a soft, little sound that was somewhere between a laugh and a hiccup, and Elsa didn't resist when the redhead pressed impossibly closer. Instead, she just held her as tightly as she could while she let one hand stroke the back of the fiery head, and gave a silent sigh of relief that she'd apparently managed to say the right things.

"God," she then breathed, and rested her cheek against Anna's temple. "I think that was the most emotionally draining thing I've done all year."

A soft, wan chortle against her shoulder. "Tell me about it," Anna muttered. "And it wasn't even an argument."

"Oh, please let's not go there," Elsa groaned, and felt the twitch of a grin against the side of her own throat. "I can barely sum up the strength to say goodnight and go home at this point; let alone imagine what it's going to be like to actually have us upset with each other for whatever reason."

"Ungh." The hold around her shoulders tightened, and a sigh warmed her skin before Anna shifted enough that the side of her head – rather than her face – was now resting on Elsa's shoulder, which allowed her voice to be that much more audible. "Yeah, that's going to suck," she mused, and Elsa could feel the faint flutter of long eyelashes against her skin. "I think we'll be okay, though. I mean, we haven't driven each other crazy yet."

"Mm." She stroked the cotton-covered back under her hands slowly. "True. As you yourself pointed out, however, we've also only spent a grand total of less than a day in each other's company."

"Well, yeah; that's kinda my point," Anna countered, and the copper head lifted until they were face to face again. "I mean, we-" Pause, and a soft, somewhat frustrated sound. "Elsa, I literally have no boundaries with you. That's not normal for two people who've spent this little time together. We're supposed to be at least ten flavors of awkward when it comes to both touching and talking at this point, and we're not. We _were_ ," she continued. "Earlier today, we were. For not even an hour. You know?"

She knew. It was, as Anna had said, in everything from the ease with which they could keep their conversations going to the complete lack of hesitance when it came to physical contact. The latter especially was unusual for Elsa herself, who tended to prefer to be touched as little as possible. Except for where Anna was concerned, apparently, since the heavens knew that they'd barely been two feet apart since the moment they'd met up earlier. It had nothing – or at least very little – to do with carnal desires, and everything to do with the simple, yet curiously addictive peace that stole over her when she had Anna in her arms; that quieted her at-times whirling mind and made her want to do the most ridiculous things, such as fall to her knees and pledge her eternal devotion to this poor woman that she barely even knew.

"It's easy," she murmured instead, and wished that she had other words to describe it than ones she'd already used a half-dozen times in the last quarter hour. "And again, comfortable. Almost as if-"

"- we've known each other a lot longer." Anna's fingers were picking at the shoulder of Elsa's t-shirt, and her eyes were firmly trained on that. "Like-" A pause, and then a slight lilt to her voice when it resumed that made it sound like she was singing moreso than speaking. "- _old friends who've just met_."

"Where's that from?" she wondered, and felt the body in her arms move in another, short laugh.

"Apparently yet another classic movie that I need to introduce you to," was the amused answer, with Anna's lips pressing a brief kiss to her cheek and a single finger hooking in the neckline of her t-shirt. "Please tell me you've heard of The Muppets."

Elsa rolled her eyes. "I'm not quite _that_ out of the loop, thank you."

"If you were, you'd be airb- hey! That tickles!"

"And you're the one being a brat, now." She was smiling, however – just a little - when she relented and laced her fingers behind Anna's back again. What, she wondered, had happened to the version of her that stiffened when someone outside her immediate family laid as much as a brief touch to her shoulder? "So it's from a Muppet movie?"

" _The_ Muppet Movie," Anna corrected, with her knuckles warm against Elsa's skin as she now picked at a loose thread at the edge of her sleeve. The not-quite-blue gaze was still firmly focused on the motions of Anna's own hand, and her voice was soft almost to the point of being hesitant. "There's this scene in the desert because they just- well, that doesn't matter, but Gonzo sings this song, and I always liked it a lot. Growing up, y'know. I remember hoping when I was a kid that maybe that's what it would feel like when I fell-" There, she obviously stopped herself, and cleared her throat while her fingers slipped around the end of Elsa's sleeve in search of more loose threads. "Anyway, I still like the song. Kinda childish, I guess."

"Not really." Elsa decided that her own voice sounded impressively calm for how fast her heart was currently beating. "Humans, we- we relate to... the most random things sometimes, but I don't think we ever do so without having a reason for it. We dream." She watched Anna nod, and let her own fingers trace patterns between the spatter of freckles on one, bare shoulder. "Mostly when we're still children, but I think the happiest adults are probably the ones who don't forget _how_ to dream."

"That's a pretty good philosophy to have," Anna murmured, and let her head come to rest against Elsa's shoulder again.

"Mm." She trailed her fingers through Anna's hair, because it was... _there_ and warm and felt like silk under her touch and oh God, she was in _so_ much trouble here. "Especially if you manage to live by it." There was a few moments of peaceful silence, with fiery hair slipping between her fingers and steady, soothing exhales against her collarbone, and then Elsa herself took a breath. "Do you remember any of it?"

"Hunh?" Anna actually jerked a little in surprise when she spoke, and maybe - just maybe - Elsa wasn't the only one who relaxed to the point of wanting to sleep when they were in each other's arms. "Say what?"

"Gonzo's song." She managed to hide her smile against the top of Anna's head, and felt her nestle closer when she gave her lower back a gentle scratch. "Do you remember it?"

A soft, wry chuckle. "I've known every last word to that song since I was seven years old," Anna told her. "Why? Did you… want me to sing some of it?"

Elsa did, in a strange, almost desperate sort of way. The exact reason eluded her grasp, but she was sure that it at least had something to do with what Anna said about the song, and even moreso with what she had _stopped_ herself from saying.

"Yes," she murmured into the copper hair, and tightened her hold on the warm body in her arms. "Please."

"Um..." There was the soft sound of Anna clearing her throat followed by the even softer one of her swallowing, and the sensation of oddly hesitant fingers tracing over her collarbone. " _This looks familiar; vaguely familiar. Almost unreal yet; it's too soon to feel yet. Close to my soul, and yet so far away. I'm going to go back there someday._ "

Whether it was intention or happenstance, Elsa didn't know, but at 'back there', Anna's fingers tapped against her chest; twice, and almost directly over her heart.

 _You already are_. The words were on the tip of her tongue and trembling to be spoken, but still, she bit them back. It was too intense – too _soon_ – for that level of honesty, no matter how true it was. The surge of emotion they inspired in each other was already threatening to bowl them both over, and Elsa felt the dire need to exercise caution; to keep the level of intensity at a manageable level, if only to ensure that she didn't lose her footing. So instead of speaking, she slipped her fingers under Anna's chin and nudged until she could catch them with her own; until she could taste the sharp inhale, and feel the way Anna's fingers curled in the fabric that covered her body as she pressed closer with a soft sound of encouragement.

Here, too, was the potential for intensity, and Elsa did her level best to keep the contact between them as light and unassuming as she could, even if they somehow ended up going from Anna leaning on her to perching on the counter with her legs hooking around Elsa's waist. Kissing Anna was something that Elsa only adored more whenever she was granted the privilege of doing so, and while this level of physical closeness did a _very_ good job of making her blood sing in her veins, she was perfectly content to feel the warmth of Anna's skin under her palms; to taste the slow sighs that she could provoke by stroking her fingers over the dip of Anna's spine, and to let fade every sensation but that of Anna's lips on hers, and the slide of warm fingers into her hair.

There was, of course, a moment where their kissing teetered on the brink of turning into more; when Anna's legs tightened enough to bring their bodies flush and Elsa was almost painfully aware of how smooth all that skin was; how fresh Anna smelled from her recent shower, how fine and soft her hair was and how she tasted even _more_ of chocolate now to the point where her senses almost overloaded on it, and _God_ , Elsa wanted to give in.

Even so, she didn't; knowing somewhere that as much as Anna was clearly able to get herself out of the slight funk she'd ended up in, she herself wanted to be able to help with that. So she slowed their kisses and eased her touches; focusing all her attention of the brush of Anna's breath against her face and the soothing warmth of the body in her arms, until she felt Anna relax while her own heartbeat settled, and she could nudge the fiery head back with the light press of her lips against the skin below Anna's jaw.

"Easy," she whispered there, and felt Anna take a long, slow breath before her head dropped to Elsa's shoulder. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean for things to get so-"

"- heated?" Anna's voice was husky, but amused. "'S okay. Not like it doesn't take two to tango." Her fingers stroked slowly at the back of Elsa's neck, and there was the slow slide of a cheek against her temple. "I was matching you pace for pace, in case you didn't notice."

"I noticed," Elsa chuckled, and pressed a kiss to the hollow of a warm shoulder.

"How about you?"

"Hm?" The soft-spoken question only barely caught her attention even though it was right by her ear, and it really was ridiculous just how far she could sink into this state of utter, fuzzy-headed contentment simply by having Anna's nails scratching soothing lines between her shoulder blades. "How about me as in, was I matching you?"

"No," Anna's smile was soft against the side of her face. "How about you as in, did you ever forget how to dream?"

There was multiple layers to that question, Elsa realized, and hooked her fingers in the pockets of Anna's shorts as she considered the idea. But the answer... well, that could really only be one thing, if she wanted to give an honest one.

"Yes," she admitted, and closed her eyes when she felt a warm exhale wash over her ear. "But I think that I'm starting to remember."

"Yeah." Anna's laugh was a little shaky, and the hold around her shoulders tightened. "Me too," she sighed, and for several moments they leaned on each other in a peaceful silence that was broken only by the music from the DVD's menu restarting itself every now and then.

Idly, Elsa wondered how long that song would be stuck in her head for, and then promptly forgot all about it when there was the light brush of soft lips against the base of her jaw.

"Stay," came the low request, with gentle fingers combing through her hair and the warmth of Anna's forehead against her own. "Because I can't dig up the will to say goodnight to you, either."


End file.
